as in to repel
to drive back
a cavalry charge that was turned back by withering fire
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of turn back
Things got off to an inauspicious start when Air Force One was turned back by mechanical issues.
—
Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 24 Jan. 2026
This context helps explain why a throwback year like 2016 has become synonymous—not for a desire to turn back the clock, but for a longing to reclaim variation, balance, and psychological space that many feel has been lost.
—Jasmine Browley, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
Japanese hair washing might be the secret to growth, but the Shu Uemura hair mask can turn back time on the signs of damage.
—Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 23 Jan. 2026
But despite the desire to turn back the clock to a more fruitful time in network TV history, this is not an exact replica of pilot seasons past.
—Joe Otterson, Variety, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for turn back
Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 24 Jan. 2026
This context helps explain why a throwback year like 2016 has become synonymous—not for a desire to turn back the clock, but for a longing to reclaim variation, balance, and psychological space that many feel has been lost.
—Jasmine Browley, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
Japanese hair washing might be the secret to growth, but the Shu Uemura hair mask can turn back time on the signs of damage.
—Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 23 Jan. 2026
But despite the desire to turn back the clock to a more fruitful time in network TV history, this is not an exact replica of pilot seasons past.
—Joe Otterson, Variety, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for turn back
Recent Examples of Synonyms for turn back
Verb
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Inviting in such resolute saboteurs, these institutions repel many in their core audience.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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In ancient China, Fa Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) takes her ailing father’s place as a conscript by disguising herself as a man to help repel the invading Huns.—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Crystals are materials whose particles form repeating patterns that resist deformation, commonly seen in nature as snowflakes, diamonds, or table salt.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Jan. 2026
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Besides, Wall Street’s infatuation with AI was likely too hard to resist.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Adi turned away as the needle found its vein, scanning the other man for a reaction but finding none.—
Jonathan Miles,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Multiple videos also show a federal agent in a gray jacket reaching into the scuffle empty-handed and emerging with a gun in his right hand, turning away from the man when the first shot is fired, then running across the street as more shots are fired.—
Nicole Sganga,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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For reasons that are quite possibly too unbearable to contemplate, a large group of American voters was not repulsed by such slander—they were actually aroused by it—and our politics have not been the same.—
Jeffrey Goldberg,
The Atlantic,
6 Jan. 2026
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Nicole is the kind of wife who moves out of her father’s home into her husband’s home, and who has been taught to be repulsed by the mushroom spores covering her body, just like all the women in their community.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Gibney illustrates that state of waiting, of staving off what at that time appears to be the inevitable, with the famous sequence from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, in which Max von Sydow’s medieval knight plays chess with Death on a desolate beach.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Jan. 2026
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The 76ers had pulled within two late until Anunoby and Landry Shamet followed with consecutive 3s that helped the Knicks stave off the late-game collapse.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
24 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The dogs had driven the woman into the surf before a tourist came to her rescue, beating off the dingoes.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
28 Jan. 2026
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On this play, Tegra Tshabola got beat off the ball, forcing Donaldson to take a different hole before running into a defender who center Carson Hinzman was on until the hole shifted.—
Cameron Teague Robinson,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Turn back.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/turn%20back. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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