turn one's back

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

turn one's back (third-person singular simple present turns one's back, present participle turning one's back, simple past and past participle turned one's back)

1. (intransitive) To cease paying attention to something.

   As soon as I turned my back, he started writing on the wall.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To forsake, to abandon; to ignore. [with on]

   He got off to a strong start, only to turn his back on the project two months later.

   • 2024 October 30, Andy Comfort, “Can the Royal Mail trains keep on running?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 62:

     In response to questions from RailReview, Royal Mail denied turning its back on rail transport completely, stressing it will continue to use rail, keeping the amount of mail moved by train under regular review.

3. (intransitive) To turn away, as when fleeing or in contempt.

Translations

to forsake, to abandon; to ignore

• Dutch: de rug toekeren
• Finnish: kääntää selkänsä
• French: tourner le dos (fr)
• Hungarian: hátat fordít
• Italian: voltare le spalle, volgere le spalle
• Polish: odwracać się impf, odwrócić się pf
• Spanish: dar la espalda
• Ukrainian: відверта́тися impf (vidvertátysja), відверну́тися pf (vidvernútysja)

See also

• tergiversate
• turn one's coat