Word.ws English Dictionary

turn in one's grave

turn in one's grave verb: to be appalled, offended or disgusted by something, despite being deceased.

Verb

turn in one's grave (third-person singular simple present turns in one's grave, present participle turning in one's grave, simple past and past participle turned in one's grave)

  1. (idiomatic) To be appalled, offended or disgusted by something, despite being deceased.
    • Beethoven is probably turning in his grave at the way that rock group mangled his Ninth Symphony.
    • The new scientific discovery about the gravitation particle could make Isaac Newton turn in his grave.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see turn, in, one's, grave.

Synonyms of turn in one's grave

Forms of turn in one's grave

third-person singular presentturns in one's grave
present participleturning in one's grave
past participleturned in one's grave
pastturned in one's grave
alternative formturn over in one's grave

Origin of turn in one's grave

Documented in English since 1801, perhaps from Jewish rabbinic tradition that the bones of Judah rolled about in his coffin for his shame during the Exodus.

Questions about turn in one's grave

What does turn in one's grave mean?
Turn in one's grave means to be appalled, offended or disgusted by something, despite being deceased.
What part of speech is turn in one's grave?
Turn in one's grave is a verb.
What is the past tense of turn in one's grave?
The past tense of turn in one's grave is turned in one's grave.

Words near turn in one's grave in the dictionary

  1. turn flukes
  2. turn forth
  3. turn heads
  4. turn in
  5. turn in on oneself
  6. turn in one's grave
  7. turn in succession
  8. turn indicator
  9. turn indicators
  10. turn inside out
  11. turn inside-out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turn in one's grave (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-turn in one's grave.ogg.

Cite this entry: “turn in one's grave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turn_in_one%27s_grave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.