to turn around
157
3.2
- phrasal verb
- /tɜrn əˈraʊnd/
:
dar la vuelta (a)
- After facing hardship, she managed to turn around her business and become successful.
- turn around one's life
- turn around things
- turn around the company
Many survivors turn that ship around or flip.
- Many survivors turn that ship around or flip.
- But I think if you're trying to turn your life around, you're the purpose.
- How are we going to turn this ship around, get it headed in the right direction?
- So I really would like to see things turn around in America.
- I'd say the agency that I have today, Proactive has turned it around for sure.
- So if my life didn't turn around like this, my life wasn't going to be nice.
- Wow dude, you turn that around, that's kind of legendary.
Examples
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Well, maybe things will turn around a little for the Indians this year.
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I keep hoping the economy is gonna turn around.
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Think about all of the lives that have turned around here.
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The point is, kids, we can turn this place around.
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We can still turn this around!
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So you guys helped turn my mindset around to do this the right way.
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But Drew was determined to turn her life around.
Academic text (2011) -
So identify those weaknesses and turn them around into sources of success.
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And if we don't turn it around, I lose the team.
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In Mozambique, Luisa Diogo became prime minister in 2004 and is helping turn around that weak economy.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
165
3.0
To get better or stronger
20
3.9
To change a situation so you get the advantage over someone who had it before
15
4.2
Cause a big change that makes things much better
14
4.2
To begin to get better after a difficult time
3
3.6
A change that makes a situation better
To become successful and respected after being unknown or unsuccessful
Antonyms
How Improved
241
3.2
88
3.7
157
3.2
∞
1.0
748
2.5
- US
75
4.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'turn' (change direction) and 'around' (to the opposite) transparently combine to convey reversal or change of state; a learner can plausibly map that physical sense onto situations to infer 'reverse a bad situation.' However, the extension from physical turning to 'make something successful' is metaphorical and the specific idiomatic usage may not be fully predictable without prior exposure, so some learners will need confirmation.
Etymology
Turn around in the sense 'to make something improve' comes from the image of turning a car that faces the wrong way so it can go forward; when you turn it around, you change its direction and help it do well. That's why it means 'to make better' or 'to save from failure'.