turnabout
turnabout noun: the act of turning about so as to face in the opposite direction.
Noun
turnabout (countable and uncountable, plural turnabouts)
- The act of turning about so as to face in the opposite direction.
- It is a fine dance, fast and intricate, with many turnabouts. The women's long black hair swirls as they turn; […]1975, National Geographic, volume 148, page 380
- A change from one thing to its opposite, or from a situation to the reverse.
- Any idea of how many transsexuals there are in America? About 10,000, some 1500 of whom have changed their sex by surgery. The male-to-female turnabout costs $3000-$5000, while the female-to-male process runs up to $12,000.1974 April 7, “People”, in Boston Globe
- A reversal of a decision or opinion etc; a change of mind or flip-flop.
- A three-point turn or any similar act of turning around, with the same outcome, regardless of how many repeated forward-reverse maneuvers it takes.
- A merry-go-round.
Forms of turnabout
| plural | turnabouts |
|---|---|
| alternative form | turn-about |
| alternative form | turn about |
Origin of turnabout
From turn + about.
Words formed from turnabout
Phrases with turnabout
Questions about turnabout
- What does turnabout mean?
- Turnabout means the act of turning about so as to face in the opposite direction.
- What part of speech is turnabout?
- Turnabout is a noun.
- What is the plural of turnabout?
- The plural of turnabout is turnabouts.
Words near turnabout in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: turnabout (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:
Cite this entry: “turnabout.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turnabout. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
