English
Verb
en-verb|inf=to turn back|turns back|turning back|turned back Category:Idioms
Category:English phrasal verbs
- to reverse one's direction and retrace one's steps.
#:Realising he had forgotten his briefcase, he turned back to the office.
- to backtrack
#:He stopped drinking for a couple of years, but now he has turned back to his old ways
#:Once we take this decision, there's no turning back.
- transitiveto fold something back; to fold down
#:When you make the bed, please always turn the sheet back over the blanket.
- transitiveto turn a dial anticlockwise or adjust a clock or other meter to an earlier time or reading.
#:In Autumn we normally turn the clocks back one hour.
- transitive to refuse to allow someone to pass a border or enter a place.
#:The soldiers turned back all the refugees at the frontier.
Usage notes
In senses 3 and 4 the object is normally a thing. It may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.
In sense 5 the object is normally a person, or group of people, or means of transport. It may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.
Synonyms
(1): about turn, about face
(3): fold, fold back
(5): drive away
Related terms
turn back the clock (figurative)
io:turn back
ja:turn back
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