Definition

Verb: 1. To reverse direction and go back the way one came: To physically return along the same path or route. 2. To cause someone or something to go back: To send someone or something back to a previous place or state. 3. To fold or bend something backward or downward: To change the position of something by folding it. 4. To refuse entry or admission: To deny passage or entry to someone, forcing them to leave or go back.

Examples of Usage

• Verb (Return):
  • We realized we had taken the wrong path and had to turn back.
  • The weather became too dangerous, so the climbers decided to turn back.
• Verb (Send Back):
  • The guards turned back the protesters at the gate.
  • Immigration officials turned the traveler back due to invalid documents.
• Verb (Fold):
  • Please turn back the page to chapter one.
  • He turned back the corner of the page to mark his place.
• Verb (Refuse Entry):
  • The nightclub turned back anyone not wearing formal attire.

Advanced Usage

• "to turn back the clock": To return to a situation or a set of conditions from the past; to wish things were as they were in an earlier time.
  • We can't turn back the clock and undo what happened.
• "to turn back the tide": To stop and reverse the progress of something powerful or widespread (often used metaphorically).
  • The new policy aimed to turn back the tide of economic decline.

Variants and Related Words

• Turnback (noun): A place where a road, path, or route turns back on itself; a reversal. (Less common)
  • There's a sharp turnback in the trail ahead.
• Turned-back (adjective): Describes something that is folded or directed backward.
  • She wore a hat with a turned-back brim.

Synonyms

• Return: To go or come back to a place or person.
• Retreat: To move back or withdraw, especially from something challenging or dangerous.
• Reverse: To change to the opposite direction, order, or position.
• Repel: To drive or force back; to resist effectively.
• Refuse: To indicate or show that one is not willing to do something, such as grant entry.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Turn away: Very similar to "turn back" in the sense of refusing admission.
  • The theater had to turn away hundreds of fans.
• Turn around: Can mean to face the opposite direction or, more commonly, to change a bad situation into a good one.
  • The company managed to turn around its financial losses.

Related Idioms

• There's no turning back: Used to say that a decision has been made and the situation cannot be changed to how it was before; the point of no return has been passed.
  • Once you submit the application, there's no turning back.

Verb

1. turn inside out or upside down
2. hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
   • Arrest the downward trend
   • Check the growth of communism in South East Asia
   • Contain the rebel movement
   • Turn back the tide of communism
3. force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings
   • Drive away potential burglars
   • drive away bad thoughts
   • dispel doubts
   • The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers
4. go back to a previous state
   • We reverted to the old rules
5. retrace one's course
   • The hikers got into a storm and had to turn back