Word.ws English Dictionary

turn upon

turn upon is the alternative form of turn on.

Meaning of turn on

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To set a flow of fluid or gas running by rotating a tap or valve.
    • Turn on the tap/faucet.
    Antonyms:
    turn off
  2. (transitive) To power up, to put into operation, to start, to activate (an appliance, light, mechanism, functionality etc.).
    • Please turn the lights on so I can see what I'm reading.
  3. (intransitive) To start operating; to power up, to become on.
    • My computer won't turn on.
    Synonyms:
    turn against
  4. (transitive) To introduce (someone to something), and especially to fill them with enthusiasm (about it); to intoxicate, give pleasure to ( + to an object of interest or excitement).
    • Attractive packaging can turn buyers on to a product.
  5. (transitive) To sexually arouse.
    • John's a maid fetishist. Maid outfits really turn him on.
  6. (intransitive, slang) To take drugs.
    • "Well, they seem to always have dope up there, and I like to turn on, too."
      "You do?"
      "Sure. Cops is just people. I don't drink, so I gotta do something to get my kicks."1971, Chuck Barnes, Revenge, Timely Books

See all 12 meanings of turn on

Forms of turn upon

third-person singular presentturns upon
present participleturning upon
past participleturned upon
pastturned upon

Questions about turn upon

What is turn upon the alternative form of?
Turn upon is the alternative form of turn on.

Words near turn upon in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turn upon (page history and authors); turn on (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 upon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turn_upon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.