Word.ws English Dictionary

turn up trumps

turn up trumps verb: to end up being successful when doing so was uncertain or unlikely.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To end up being successful when doing so was uncertain or unlikely.
    • So nearly all her investment turned up trumps, and Edward was really in fit case to reopen Branshaw Manor and once more to assume his position in the county.1915, Ford Madox Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter V, in The Good Soldier […], Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1972 (1982 printing), →ISBN, part I, page 62

Antonyms of turn up trumps

Forms of turn up trumps

third-person singular presentturns up trumps
present participleturning up trumps
past participleturned up trumps
pastturned up trumps
alternative formcome up trumps

Questions about turn up trumps

What does turn up trumps mean?
Turn up trumps means to end up being successful when doing so was uncertain or unlikely.
What part of speech is turn up trumps?
Turn up trumps is a verb.
What is the past tense of turn up trumps?
The past tense of turn up trumps is turned up trumps.

Words near turn up trumps in the dictionary

  1. turn up missing
  2. turn up one's nose
  3. turn up one's toes
  4. turn up the heat
  5. turn up the volume on
  6. turn up trumps
  7. turn upon
  8. turn ups
  9. turn ups for the book
  10. turn ups for the books
  11. turn upside down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turn up trumps (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-turn up trumps.ogg.

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