Word.ws English Dictionary

turning the tables

turning the tables is the present participle and gerund 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 turning the tables

What is turning the tables the present participle and gerund of?
Turning the tables is the present participle and gerund of turn the tables.

Words near turning the tables in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turning 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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Cite this entry: “turning the tables.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turning_the_tables. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.