Word.ws English Dictionary

turns of phrase

turns of phrase is the plural of turn of phrase.

Meaning of turn of phrase

Noun

turn of phrase (countable and uncountable, plural turns of phrase)

  1. (countable) An expression which is worded in a distinctive way, especially one which is particularly memorable or artful.
    • "I should call it a most nice sort of surprise," remarked the girl with a quaintly un-English turn of phrase which he had already noticed and thought the most delightful thing in the world.1922, Dorothy Canfield, “Chapter 43”, in Rough-Hewn
  2. (uncountable) A distinctive way of wording things, a distinctive way of writing or speaking.
    • This author has a beautiful turn of phrase.
    Synonyms:
    style, prose

Questions about turns of phrase

What is turns of phrase the plural of?
Turns of phrase is the plural of turn of phrase.

Words near turns of phrase in the dictionary

  1. turns loose
  2. turns of centuries
  3. turns of duty
  4. turns of events
  5. turns of foot
  6. turns of phrase
  7. turns of the centuries
  8. turns of the screw
  9. turns of the years
  10. turns of words
  11. turns off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turns of phrase (page history and authors); turn of phrase (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: “turns of phrase.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turns_of_phrase. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.