Word.ws English Dictionary

turn the clock back

turn the clock back is the alternative form of turn back the clock.

Meaning of turn back the clock

Verb

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

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) To return to a previous state.
    • We had a terrible year so we agreed to turn back the clock and go on as if it hadn't happened.

Forms of turn the clock back

third-person singular presentturns the clock back
present participleturning the clock back
past participleturned the clock back
pastturned the clock back

Questions about turn the clock back

What is turn the clock back the alternative form of?
Turn the clock back is the alternative form of turn back the clock.

Words near turn the clock back in the dictionary

  1. turn stops
  2. turn tail
  3. turn the air blue
  4. turn the boat
  5. turn the boat around
  6. turn the clock back
  7. turn the clocks back
  8. turn the cold shoulder on someone
  9. turn the corner
  10. turn the dial
  11. turn the frown upside down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turn the clock back (page history and authors); turn back the clock (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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Cite this entry: “turn the clock back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turn_the_clock_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.