23 N‑COUNT [usu with poss, oft N to-inf, N -ing] If it is your turn to do something, you now have the duty, chance, or right to do it, when other people have done it before you or will do it after you. □ Tonight it's my turn to cook. □ [+ at ] Let each child have a turn at fishing.
24 N‑COUNT If you say that someone is having a turn , you mean they feel suddenly very unwell for a short period of time. [BRIT , INFORMAL ]
25 → see also turning
26 PHRASE You can use by turns to indicate that someone has two particular emotions or qualities, one after the other. □ His tone was by turns angry and aggrieved.
27 PHRASE If there is a particular turn of events , a particular series of things happen. □ They were horrified at this unexpected turn of events.
28 PHRASE If you say that something happens at every turn , you are emphasizing that it happens frequently or all the time, usually so that it prevents you from achieving what you want. [EMPHASIS ] □ Its operations were hampered at every turn by inadequate numbers of trained staff.
29 PHRASE If you do someone a good turn , you do something that helps or benefits them. □ He did you a good turn by resigning.
30 PHRASE If someone turns a place inside out or upside down , they search it very thoroughly and usually make it very untidy. □ They hadn't found a scrap of evidence though they had turned his flat inside out.
31 PHRASE If something such as a system or way of life is turned inside out or upside down , it is changed completely, making people confused or upset. □ He felt too shocked to move. His world had been turned upside down.
32 PHRASE You use in turn to refer to actions or events that are in a sequence one after the other, for example because one causes the other. □ One of the team members leaked the story to a colleague who, in turn, told a reporter.
33 PHRASE If each person in a group does something in turn , they do it one after the other in a fixed or agreed order. □ There were cheers for each of the women as they spoke in turn.
34 PHRASE If you speak out of turn or talk out of turn , you say something that you do not have the right or authority to say. □ I hope I haven't spoken out of turn.
35 PHRASE If two or more people take turns to do something, or in British English take it in turns to do something, they do it one after the other several times, rather than doing it together. □ We took turns to drive the car.
36 PHRASE If a situation takes a turn for the worse , it suddenly becomes worse. If a situation takes a turn for the better , it suddenly becomes better. □ Her condition took a sharp turn for the worse.
▸ turn against PHRASAL VERB If you turn against someone or something, or if you are turned against them, you stop supporting them, trusting them, or liking them. □ [V P n] A kid I used to be friends with turned against me after being told that I'd been insulting him. □ [V n P n] Working with the police has turned me against the use of violent scenes as entertainment.
▸ turn around or turn round
1 → see turn 1
2 PHRASAL VERB If you turn something around , or if it turns around , it is moved so that it faces the opposite direction. □ [V n P ] Bud turned the truck around, and started back for Dalton Pond. □ [V P n] He had reached over to turn round a bottle of champagne so that the label didn't show. □ [V P ] There was enough room for a wheelchair to get in but not to turn round.
3 PHRASAL VERB If something such as a business or economy turns around , or if someone turns it around , it becomes successful, after being unsuccessful for a period of time. [BUSINESS ] □ [V n P ] Turning the company around won't be easy. □ [V P n] In his long career at BP, Horton turned around two entire divisions. □ [V P ] If the economy turned round the government's authority would quickly increase.
4 PHRASAL VERB If you turn around a question, sentence, or idea, you change the way in which it is expressed, in order to consider it differently. □ [V n P ] What's the point of history? Let's turn the question around: imagine a world with the history written out. □ [V P n] It's an example of how you can turn around the sentence and create a whole new meaning.
5 → see also turnaround
6 PHRASE If you say that someone turns around and says something, you are indicating that they say it unexpectedly or angrily, especially in order to criticize another person or to defend themselves. [INFORMAL ] □ I feel that if I say how tired I get, David will turn around and say, 'I told you so'.
▸ turn away
1 PHRASAL VERB If you turn someone away , you do not allow them to enter your country, home, or other place. □ [V n P ] Turning refugees away would be an inhumane action. □ [V P n] Hard times are forcing community colleges to turn away students.
2 PHRASAL VERB To turn away from something such as a method or an idea means to stop using it or to become different from it. □ [V P + from ] Japanese corporations have been turning away from production into finance.
▸ turn back
1 PHRASAL VERB If you turn back or if someone turns you back when you are going somewhere, you change direction and go towards where you started from. □ [V P prep/adv] She turned back towards the crossroads. □ [V P ] They were very nearly forced to turn back. □ [V P n] Police attempted to turn back protesters marching towards parliament. [Also V n P ]