"turn back" meaning in All languages combined

See turn back on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-turn back.ogg Forms: turns back [present, singular, third-person], turning back [participle, present], turned back [participle, past], turned back [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} turn back (third-person singular simple present turns back, present participle turning back, simple past and past participle turned back)
  1. (intransitive) To reverse direction and retrace one's steps. Tags: intransitive Synonyms: about turn, about face
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-bFSAdhVp
  2. (transitive) To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-Bu6wm2Z5
  3. To return to a previous state of being.
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-WAqermv4 Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Esperanto translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 7 7 41 5 5 28 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 9 9 29 7 5 33 8
  4. (transitive) To prevent or refuse to allow passage or progress. Tags: transitive Synonyms: drive away, repel, turn away, stop
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-d3ExcgK1
  5. (transitive) To adjust to a previous setting. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-bZc58dm8
  6. (transitive) To fold something back; to fold down. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-Oazqu94J Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs formed with "back", Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Esperanto translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 4 31 8 3 47 3 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "back": 6 7 25 6 6 40 10 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 5 7 30 7 3 44 5 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 4 5 32 3 3 48 5 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 9 9 29 7 5 33 8
  7. (obsolete, transitive) To give back; to return. Tags: obsolete, transitive
    Sense id: en-turn_back-en-verb-DNtms~hU
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: turnback [noun], turn back the clock, turn the clocks back Translations (reverse direction): returniĝi (Esperanto)
Disambiguation of 'reverse direction': 51 45 1 1 2 0 0

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 10 3 11 36 40",
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "turnback"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 10 3 11 36 40",
      "word": "turn back the clock"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 10 3 11 36 40",
      "word": "turn the clocks back"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "turns back",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "turning back",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "turned back",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "turned back",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "turn back (third-person singular simple present turns back, present participle turning back, simple past and past participle turned back)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Realising he had forgotten his briefcase, he turned back and re-entered the office.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:",
          "text": "Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-bFSAdhVp",
      "links": [
        [
          "reverse",
          "reverse"
        ],
        [
          "direction",
          "direction"
        ],
        [
          "retrace",
          "retrace"
        ],
        [
          "step",
          "step"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "about turn"
        },
        {
          "word": "about face"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The barrage of machine-gun fire turned back the encroaching soldiers.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1951 February, “Notes and News: Lynton & Barnstaple Remains”, in Railway Magazine, page 136:",
          "text": "Pilton Yard, the Lynton & Barnstaple headquarters, has been taken over by a fur trading firm, and would-be trespassers to the old engine-shed are turned back by the pungent odour of heaps of carcases.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-Bu6wm2Z5",
      "links": [
        [
          "reverse",
          "reverse"
        ],
        [
          "direction",
          "direction"
        ],
        [
          "retrace",
          "retrace"
        ],
        [
          "step",
          "step"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "7 7 41 5 5 28 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 9 29 7 5 33 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He stopped drinking for a couple of years, but now he has turned back to his old ways.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Once we take this decision, there's no turning back.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To return to a previous state of being."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-WAqermv4"
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: kick out"
        },
        {
          "text": "The soldiers turned back all the refugees at the frontier.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To prevent or refuse to allow passage or progress."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-d3ExcgK1",
      "links": [
        [
          "prevent",
          "prevent"
        ],
        [
          "passage",
          "passage"
        ],
        [
          "progress",
          "progress"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To prevent or refuse to allow passage or progress."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "drive away"
        },
        {
          "word": "repel"
        },
        {
          "word": "turn away"
        },
        {
          "word": "stop"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In Autumn we normally turn the clocks back one hour.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "I love that song: turn back to it!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To adjust to a previous setting."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-bZc58dm8",
      "links": [
        [
          "adjust",
          "adjust"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To adjust to a previous setting."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "4 4 31 8 3 47 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 7 25 6 6 40 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"back\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "5 7 30 7 3 44 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 5 32 3 3 48 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 9 29 7 5 33 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: turn down"
        },
        {
          "text": "When you make the bed, please always turn the sheet back over the blanket.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fold something back; to fold down."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-Oazqu94J",
      "links": [
        [
          "fold",
          "fold"
        ],
        [
          "fold down",
          "fold down"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To fold something back; to fold down."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act II, scene II:",
          "text": "We turn not back the silks upon the merchants,\nWhen we have soiled them; nor the remainder viands.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To give back; to return."
      ],
      "id": "en-turn_back-en-verb-DNtms~hU",
      "links": [
        [
          "give back",
          "give back"
        ],
        [
          "return",
          "return"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete, transitive) To give back; to return."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-turn back.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/70/En-au-turn_back.ogg/En-au-turn_back.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/En-au-turn_back.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "_dis1": "51 45 1 1 2 0 0",
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "reverse direction",
      "word": "returniĝi"
    }
  ],
  "word": "turn back"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English idioms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"back\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "turnback"
    },
    {
      "word": "turn back the clock"
    },
    {
      "word": "turn the clocks back"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "turns back",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "turning back",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "turned back",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "turned back",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "turn back (third-person singular simple present turns back, present participle turning back, simple past and past participle turned back)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Realising he had forgotten his briefcase, he turned back and re-entered the office.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:",
          "text": "Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reverse",
          "reverse"
        ],
        [
          "direction",
          "direction"
        ],
        [
          "retrace",
          "retrace"
        ],
        [
          "step",
          "step"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "about turn"
        },
        {
          "word": "about face"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The barrage of machine-gun fire turned back the encroaching soldiers.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1951 February, “Notes and News: Lynton & Barnstaple Remains”, in Railway Magazine, page 136:",
          "text": "Pilton Yard, the Lynton & Barnstaple headquarters, has been taken over by a fur trading firm, and would-be trespassers to the old engine-shed are turned back by the pungent odour of heaps of carcases.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reverse",
          "reverse"
        ],
        [
          "direction",
          "direction"
        ],
        [
          "retrace",
          "retrace"
        ],
        [
          "step",
          "step"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He stopped drinking for a couple of years, but now he has turned back to his old ways.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Once we take this decision, there's no turning back.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To return to a previous state of being."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: kick out"
        },
        {
          "text": "The soldiers turned back all the refugees at the frontier.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To prevent or refuse to allow passage or progress."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "prevent",
          "prevent"
        ],
        [
          "passage",
          "passage"
        ],
        [
          "progress",
          "progress"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To prevent or refuse to allow passage or progress."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "drive away"
        },
        {
          "word": "repel"
        },
        {
          "word": "turn away"
        },
        {
          "word": "stop"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In Autumn we normally turn the clocks back one hour.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "I love that song: turn back to it!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To adjust to a previous setting."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "adjust",
          "adjust"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To adjust to a previous setting."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: turn down"
        },
        {
          "text": "When you make the bed, please always turn the sheet back over the blanket.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fold something back; to fold down."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fold",
          "fold"
        ],
        [
          "fold down",
          "fold down"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To fold something back; to fold down."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act II, scene II:",
          "text": "We turn not back the silks upon the merchants,\nWhen we have soiled them; nor the remainder viands.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To give back; to return."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "give back",
          "give back"
        ],
        [
          "return",
          "return"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete, transitive) To give back; to return."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-turn back.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/70/En-au-turn_back.ogg/En-au-turn_back.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/En-au-turn_back.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "reverse direction",
      "word": "returniĝi"
    }
  ],
  "word": "turn back"
}

Download raw JSONL data for turn back meaning in All languages combined (5.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.