turn around

or turn round

1) see turn 1)

2) PHR-V-ERG 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 (not pron)] 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) PHR-V-ERG 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.

[V n P] Turning the company around won't be easy...

[V P n (not pron)] In his long career at BP, Horton turned around two entire divisions...

[V P] If the economy turned round the Prime Minister's authority would quickly increase.

4) PHRASAL VERB 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]

[V P and v] I feel that if I say how tired I get, David will turn around and say, `I told you so'.

5) 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] Now turn the question around and start looking not for what you did wrong in the past, but for what you can do to make things better in the future...

[V P n (not pron)] It's an example of how you can turn around the sentence and create a whole new meaning.

6) → See also turnaround