turn against

verb

turned against; turning against; turns against

1

: to stop supporting or being friendly to (someone or something)

The senator eventually turned against the war.

She turned against her best friend.

2

: to cause (someone) to stop being friendly toward (someone)

He tried to turn our friends against us.

3

: to use (something) in a way that harms or discredits (someone)

Her political opponent tried to turn her many years of experience in Washington against her.

Examples of turn against in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, the filmmaker begins with a farmer at the first spark in Essex, then follows him as the uprising gathers people, reaches London, and begins to turn against itself. — Jp Mangalindan, Time, 11 Sep. 2026

Across Greengrass’ three Bourne movies, the elite assassin turns against the clandestine institution that created him, determined to escape its grip and bring its covert operations to light. — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 10 Sep. 2026

The result is a twisted, naturalistic fairytale about structural realities; with the right boot-heel at one’s neck, even ostensibly life-giving forces like forests and rivers can be turned against innocent people. — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026

The Republican turn against data centers is more striking because experts say that the party has positioned itself as pro-business. — Maham Javaid, NPR, 5 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for turn against

• recommenced
• recompensed
• commenced
• condensed
• dispensed
• expensed
• incensed
• unfenced
• fenced
• sensed
• tensed