Word.ws English Dictionary

turns up trumps

turns up trumps is the third-person singular simple present indicative of turn up trumps.

Meaning of turn up trumps

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To end up being successful when doing so was uncertain or unlikely.
    • So nearly all her investment turned up trumps, and Edward was really in fit case to reopen Branshaw Manor and once more to assume his position in the county.1915, Ford Madox Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter V, in The Good Soldier […], Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1972 (1982 printing), →ISBN, part I, page 62

Questions about turns up trumps

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

Words near turns up trumps in the dictionary

  1. turns up missing
  2. turns up one's nose
  3. turns up one's toes
  4. turns up the heat
  5. turns up the volume on
  6. turns up trumps
  7. turns upon
  8. turns upside down
  9. turnscrew
  10. turnscrews
  11. turnsheet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turns up trumps (page history and authors); turn up trumps (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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