turn back

/tərn bæk/

/tən bæk/

Other forms: turned back; turning back; turns back

Definitions of turn back

1. verb

   go back to a previous state
   synonyms: regress, retrovert, return, revert

   types:

   fall back, lapse, recidivate, regress, relapse, retrogress

   go back to bad behavior

   resile

   return to the original position or state after being stretched or compressed

   go back, recover, recuperate

   regain a former condition after a financial loss

   rally, rebound

   return to a former condition

   type of:

   change by reversal, reverse, turn

   change to the contrary
2. verb

   retrace one's course
   “The hikers got into a storm and had to turn back”

   synonyms: backtrack, double back

   type of:

   return

   go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
3. verb

   force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings
   “The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers”

   synonyms: chase away, dispel, drive away, drive off, drive out, run off

   drive out, force out, rouse, rout out

   force or drive out

   types:

   frighten

   drive out by frightening

   fire

   drive out or away by or as if by fire

   clear the air

   dispel differences or negative emotions

   banish

   drive away

   shoo, shoo away, shoo off

   drive away by crying `shoo!'

   type of:

   displace, move

   cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense
4. verb

   hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
   synonyms: arrest, check, contain, hold back, stop

   types:

   cut down, cut out

   intercept (a player)

   type of:

   defend

   be on the defensive; act against an attack
5. verb

   turn inside out or upside down
   synonyms: invert, reverse

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation