turn against

phrasal 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

After a bump in his polls earlier this year coinciding with the LA fires and opposition to Trump, sentiment has turned against his handling of the state. —Douglas Schoen, Oc Register, 3 Aug. 2025

This is an outrageous weaponization of the bar ethics process—one that could be turned against any lawyer serving in government at any time. —Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025

The country had turned against Argentine manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino and there was little hope that the CONCACAF giants would progress from Group C that featured Poland, Argentina and Saudi Arabia. —The Athletic Uk Staff, New York Times, 23 July 2025

Eyes, teeth, fingers lead to a bigger payment, making the miners turn against each other. —John Hopewell, Variety, 14 July 2025

Rhymes for turn against

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