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
Lopez turned back to the reporter to finish answering her question.
—
Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
The first expedition was forced to turn back due to adverse weather conditions.
—Owen Clarke, Outside, 6 Oct. 2025
It would have been turned back on at the request of the hotel, Zaya said.
—Rey Covarrubias Jr, AZCentral.com, 5 Oct. 2025
Beiersdorf brand Nivea is turning back time in a new partnership with beloved Y2K clothing brand Juicy Couture.
—Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for turn back
Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
The first expedition was forced to turn back due to adverse weather conditions.
—Owen Clarke, Outside, 6 Oct. 2025
It would have been turned back on at the request of the hotel, Zaya said.
—Rey Covarrubias Jr, AZCentral.com, 5 Oct. 2025
Beiersdorf brand Nivea is turning back time in a new partnership with beloved Y2K clothing brand Juicy Couture.
—Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for turn back
Recent Examples of Synonyms for turn back
Verb
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One raid saw masked federal agents repelling from Black Hawk helicopters and wrecking an apartment building.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
9 Oct. 2025
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For those who repel the idea of noise-cancelling headphones, these deliver high-quality sound without drowning out the noise of oncoming traffic—an essential for city runners or anyone who can’t seem to stay out of the bike path.—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have long resisted the ongoing settler colonial project that is now the United States.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
11 Oct. 2025
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Ever since the company’s founder was pushed out and fled Russia in 2014 for resisting Kremlin demands and the company was handed over to Putin allies, VK has been more than pliant in cooperating with the state.—
Justin Sherman,
The Atlantic,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
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This time around, while Chambers remains turned away, Teasdale crouches with an unsettling smile and long fingernails, conjuring a skin-crawling suspense.—
Sophie Williams,
Billboard,
10 Oct. 2025
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Coders are now turning away from many of the public expressions of interest in different languages (like Google searches and Stack Exchange queries), which have served as key metrics for the ranking since 2013.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
9 Oct. 2025
Verb
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After a disastrous trip to Mexico where Irina appeared repulsed by pretty much everything Zack did, the couple split and Zack crawled back to Bliss.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Oct. 2025
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He was repulsed then, but years later, thinking about a man who’d expressed an interest in the human body in the most macabre possible way sparked something in Hunnam.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In Wednesday night’s 4-3 victory for the Cubs to stave off elimination against the Brewers in the best-of-five National League Division Series, Crow-Armstrong’s two-out, two-RBI single in the first inning was the type of momentum-shifting hit that Chicago has been searching for this series.—
Sahadev Sharma,
New York Times,
9 Oct. 2025
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No government has been able to stave off, slow, or even manage the infiltration of giant, immensely lucrative tech companies into every corner of young humans’ lives and interaction.—
Belinda Luscombe,
Time,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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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
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Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP What To Know Obama beat off stiff competition from the likes of David Attenborough and Tom Hanks to win the Outstanding Narrator prize for his narration of the five-part Netflix series Our Oceans, which examines marine life across the world's oceans.—
Daniel Orton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Turn back.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/turn%20back. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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