Word.ws English Dictionary

turned the tables

turned the tables is the simple past and past participle of turn the tables.

Meaning of turn the tables

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To reverse a situation, usually so that the advantage has shifted to the party which was previously disadvantaged.
    • Well, the tables are turned—the times are changed. A peaceful and unoffending man might have expected from a neighbour, now powerful in his turn, such protection when walking in the paths of the law, as all men, subjects of the realm, have a right to expect even from perfect strangers.1822, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 21

Questions about turned the tables

What is turned the tables the simple past and past participle of?
Turned the tables is the simple past and past participle of turn the tables.

Words near turned the tables in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turned the tables (page history and authors); turn the tables (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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