Word.ws English Dictionary

turns the tables

turns the tables is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 turns the tables

What is turns the tables the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Turns the tables is the third-person singular simple present indicative of turn the tables.

Words near turns the tables in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turns 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: “turns the tables.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turns_the_tables. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.