to turn one's back on - Glite Dictionary

Examples

And, Rich, I am offering you a gift certificate to life and you turn your back on me.

Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979)
He chose to turn his back on his old friends when they needed him the most.
How can you turn your back on us like this?

Gabriel (2007)
Fear makes you turn your back on everything.

Demon Slayer (2003)
Do not turn your back on him.

The Fast and the Furious (2001)
"Then why did you never turn your back on them and leave?"

Fiction book (1993)
Turn your back on them, and that is when you truly have nothing.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
You're really just gonna turn your back on me?

Step Up (2006)
Don't turn your back on me.

Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster (2011)
When at last his wanderings brought him here, he turned his back on towns and people.

Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

to turn against

vsto turn one's back on

177 3.8

To start opposing someone you once supported

is more about deliberate ignoring or leaving rather than active hostility

to back away

vsto turn one's back on

111 3.9

Stop supporting or taking part in a plan because you feel unsure

is a deliberate rejection or abandonment rather than hesitant pulling back

to turn away from

vsto turn one's back on

65 3.7

To refuse to have anything to do with someone or something

is a stronger, more final act of leaving or rejecting involvement

Antonyms

to engage

804 3.4

To take part in an activity

embrace

24 3.4

A warm, willing acceptance of someone or an idea

How Rejecting

to renounce

Formal

70 6.3

to abandon

607 3.1

to turn one's back on

1 5.1

to shun

72 4.6

to ignore

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

turn one's back on infinitive

turned one's back on past

turned one's back on past participle

turning one's back on present participle

turns one's back on third person singular

Morphology

turn + one's + back + on

The literal meanings of 'turn' + 'one's' + 'back' + 'on' create a clear physical image (to turn your back toward someone), which gives a plausible clue that the action involves withdrawal or refusal to engage. However, the shift from a physical action to the social meaning 'deliberately ignore or abandon' is a metaphorical/pragmatic extension and not fully predictable from the parts alone, so learners need some inferencing or prior exposure.

Etymology

The idiom turn one's back on comes from the simple image of someone literally turning their back away from a person or place, so they stop facing or helping them. That's why it means 'to ignore' or 'abandon'.