Word.ws English Dictionary

turn about

turn about verb: to revolve. Also the alternative spelling of turnabout.

Verb

turn about (third-person singular simple present turns about, present participle turning about, simple past and past participle turned about)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To revolve.
  2. (dated, intransitive) To reverse one's position; to turn round.
  3. (obsolete, reflexive) To turn (oneself) around.
    • Jesus tourned him about, and behelde her saynge: Doughter be off goode comforte, thy fayth hath made the safe.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew viij
  4. (transitive) To change or reverse the position of.
  5. (transitive) To turn (something) one way and then another; to move about.

Adverb

turn about (not comparable)

  1. Synonym of turn and turn about.

Also used as

turn about is also the alternative spelling of turnabout.

Synonyms of turn about

Forms of turn about

Verb
third-person singular presentturns about
present participleturning about
past participleturned about
pastturned about
Noun
pluralturn abouts
pluralturns about

Questions about turn about

What does turn about mean?
Turn about means to revolve.
What part of speech is turn about?
Turn about can be a verb or an adverb.
What is the past tense of turn about?
The past tense of turn about is turned about.

Words near turn about in the dictionary

  1. turn a page
  2. turn a phrase
  3. turn a profit
  4. turn a setback into a comeback
  5. turn a trick
  6. turn about
  7. turn about is fair play
  8. turn abouts
  9. turn again
  10. turn against
  11. turn an honest penny

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turn about (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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