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Glite Dictionary
🙅 To refuse 🔉 To reduce 📉 To decrease
to turn down

to turn down

6 3.6
Begin to fall after rising or staying steady
  • phrasal verb
  • /tɜrn daʊn/
translation icon : bajar
  • I admit prices can fall if the economy turns down, maybe a lot.
  • the economy turns down
  • the market turned down
  • the stock market turned down

So the relative Max is going to be when your graph is going to has a slope of that is increasing and then turns down to decreasing.

Examples

  • The housing bubble popped, first oil prices kept increasing, and VMT turned down in 2006.

    Blog text (23)

  • Women's employment didn't start to turn down until a full year after men's employment started declining, in March 2007.

    Blog text (23)

  • Let it cook on high for 1-2 hours, then turn down to low.

    Blog text (29)

  • As soon as this starts turning down, stocks tend to hit their bottom.

  • Is it for failing to signal my lane change or for failing to turn down my music?

    The Hate U Give (2018)

  • The budget's tight, but we can't turn down someone in need.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • As the housing market begins to turn down, many sellers are reconsidering their prices.

  • Experts predict that the economy will turn down in the next quarter due to rising inflation.

  • When temperatures start to turn down in the fall, people often begin preparing for winter.

Synonyms

to slow down
vsto turn down
687 1.4

To move or act more slowly

refers specifically to beginning a decrease in a process or trend after rising
to go down
vsto turn down
321 1.9

To become less in amount, size, or value

is used when something begins to decrease after rising or remaining steady
to come down
vsto turn down
221 2.8

To become lower, for example temperature or prices

focuses on the initial shift into a downward change after stability or rise
to ease up
vsto turn down
57 3.7

To make something less strong or strict

covers the start of decline in level or activity rather than easing rules
to die down
vsto turn down
46 2.7

To become less strong or loud over time

means the same onset of decrease but applied to processes or trends broadly
to decline
vsto turn down
3 3.4

To slope downward toward a lower level

applies to falling processes or trends beginning to decrease rather than physical slope
to drop away
vsto turn down
2 3.3

To become less over time

describes the start of a downward trend after a prior rise or steady phase
to ratchet down
vsto turn down
1 7.2

To make something less in small steps that are hard to bring back

describes a general beginning of decline without implying stepwise or irreversible change
to spin down
vsto turn down
  • Informal
6.7

To relax and become less active after a busy time

is broader, naming when a process or trend starts to decline after rising

Antonyms

to rise
904 1.0

To become greater in amount or strength

How Fast

to plummet
93 5.8
drop
230 2.5
to fall
∞ 1.0
to turn down
6 3.6
to decline
3 3.4
to level off
17 3.9

Surface Forms

turn down infinitive
turned down past
turned down past participle
turning down present participle
turns down third person singular

Morphology

turn + down

The sense 'to begin to decline or decrease' is directly derivable from combining a change verb 'turn' (change/shift) with the directional particle 'down' (decrease, lower); this composition follows a common English pattern (and parallels in many languages) so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning from context. Note there is potential ambiguity because 'turn down' also has a separate sense 'to refuse', but in contexts about processes or trends the downward directional reading is transparently predictable.

Etymology

Turn down comes from the picture of a line on a chart that first goes up and then turns down to go lower. That's why it is used to mean 'begin to fall' or 'decrease'.