turn back

faire demi-tour, rebrousser chemin

Changer de direction pour retourner vers l’endroit d’où l’on vient.

En anglais simple : To change direction and go towards the place you came from.

• It is late; let us turn back.
• We turned back when the path became too steep.
• Should we turn back before the storm arrives?

Synonymes : go back, return

Contraires : continue

Expressions courantes : turn back home, turn back now

refouler, refuser l’entrée

Empêcher quelqu’un d’entrer dans un lieu ou de poursuivre son voyage.

En anglais simple : To stop someone from entering a place or continuing their journey.

• The guards turned us back.
• Visitors without tickets were turned back at the entrance.
• Will the border police turn them back without passports?

Comment l'utiliser : turn someone back at/from somewhere (They turned us back at the border.)

Synonymes : turn away, refuse entry

Contraires : admit

Expressions courantes : turn back someone, turn someone back, turn back visitors

repousser, faire reculer

Forcer quelqu’un ou quelque chose à repartir vers l’endroit d’où il vient.

En anglais simple : To force someone or something to move back towards where they came from.

• The guards turned back the attackers.
• Heavy gunfire turned the enemy troops back.
• The defenders managed to turn back another assault.

Comment l'utiliser : turn back someone/something (The defenders turned back the advancing troops.)

Synonymes : repel, drive back

Expressions courantes : turn back someone, turn someone back, turn back troops

reculer, remettre au réglage précédent

Reculer l’heure d’une horloge ou remettre une commande à un réglage précédent.

En anglais simple : To change a clock or other control to an earlier or previous setting.

• Turn the clock back tonight.
• We turned our clocks back by an hour.
• Have you turned the dial back to its original setting?

Comment l'utiliser : turn something back by an amount (Turn the clock back by one hour.)

Synonymes : set back, reset

Contraires : advance

Expressions courantes : turn something back, turn back clocks

revenir, redevenir

Retrouver un état, un comportement ou un mode de vie que l’on avait auparavant.

En anglais simple : To return to a condition, behaviour, or way of life you had before.

• He turned back to his old ways.
• In the story, the prince turns back into a frog.
• After years abroad, she turned back to her former way of life.

Comment l'utiliser : turn back to something (He turned back to his old habits.); turn back into something (The prince turned back into a frog.)

Synonymes : revert, return

Expressions courantes : turn back again, turn back eventually

rabattre, replier

Replier un bord ou une partie de quelque chose pour rendre visible l’autre face.

En anglais simple : To fold an edge or part of something so the other side becomes visible.

• Turn back the corner of the page.
• She turned the sheet back before getting into bed.
• He turned back his cuffs to show the lining.

Comment l'utiliser : turn something back (Turn the top of the sheet back over the blanket.)

Synonymes : fold back

Expressions courantes : turn something back, turn back cuffs