Word.ws English Dictionary

turn the table

turn the table verb: at a dinner party, to have guests turn from left to right (or vice versa) to talk to the people on their opposite side. Also the alternative form of turn the tables.

Verb

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

  1. (dated) At a dinner party, to have guests turn from left to right (or vice versa) to talk to the people on their opposite side.

Also used as

turn the table is also the alternative form of turn the tables.

Forms of turn the table

third-person singular presentturns the table
present participleturning the table
past participleturned the table
pastturned the table

Questions about turn the table

What does turn the table mean?
Turn the table means at a dinner party, to have guests turn from left to right (or vice versa) to talk to the people on their opposite side.
What part of speech is turn the table?
Turn the table is a verb.
What is the past tense of turn the table?
The past tense of turn the table is turned the table.

Words near turn the table in the dictionary

  1. turn the other way
  2. turn the page
  3. turn the scale
  4. turn the screw
  5. turn the screws
  6. turn the table
  7. turn the tables
  8. turn the tide
  9. turn the trick
  10. turn the turtle
  11. turn to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turn the table (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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