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Glite Dictionary
🤝 To seek help 👤 To address
to turn to

to turn to

172 2.7
Face someone and speak to them
  • phrasal verb
  • /tɜrn tu/
translation icon : dirigirse a
  • I turned to my sister and I said, "Who is that cute bunny?"
  • let's turn to
  • now turn to
  • Next, we turn to

Doug said, and then he turned to me with tears in his eyes.

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Examples

  • Please turn to your neighbor and bestow peace.

    North Hollywood (2021)

  • And he turned to me, do you know what he said?

    In Bruges (2008)

  • I feel like what I want is to turn to Sarah and go see, I do feel bad.

  • I turned to my family and I said...

    JFK (1991)

  • So, I turned to my dad and I asked him, "How much do I need to make in order to own a house like this?"

    The Minimalists: Less Is Now (2021)

  • And so at that moment, I turned to some of my advisors.

  • INVESTIGATOR TO SUBJECT: "Before we begin, please turn to the camera and state your name."

    Academic text (1996)

  • OK, well why don't we turn to some of our questions here.

  • And he turned to me and said, "Well, that's too bad, because I have a big crush on you."

    Before Sunrise (1995)

  • When I need support, I always turn to my best friend for advice.

Synonyms

to address
vsto turn to
  • Formal
236 4.4

To speak formally to a group, often when giving a speech

speak by turning attention or body toward someone in informal or personal situations

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Direct

to address
211 3.9
to turn to
172 2.7
to face
549 1.0
to look at
∞ 1.0
to glance
299 1.5

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

turn + to

The sense 'to go to someone for help' is directly derivable from combining 'turn' (redirect one’s attention/support) with the directional preposition 'to' (toward), so the compositional logic yields the intended meaning. This verb + preposition pattern is common across languages and in English usage, so an average B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The phrase turn to comes from the simple image of physically turning your body to face someone when you want to speak to them. That's why it means 'to address' or 'speak to' someone.