How do you use the word "turn" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "turn": Could you turn on the light, please? Turn right at the crossroad.

Turn Meaning

/tɜːn/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

verbTo make a non-linear physical movement.

verbTo make a non-linear physical movement., To move about an axis through itself.

Sentence Examples

Could you turn on the light, please?

Turn right at the crossroad.

The wheels of the car began to turn.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

play bend twist

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The dancer began to ____ in a circle as the music started.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Please remember to ____ left at the next traffic lights to reach the central library in the middle of town today.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nos Proto-Indo-European *tórh₁nos Proto-Hellenic *tórnos Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos)bor. Latin tornus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin tornōbor. Proto-West Germanic *turnēn Old English turnian ▲ Latin tornō Old French tornerbor. Middle English turnen English turn From Middle English turnen, from Old English turnian, tyrnan (“to turn, rotate, revolve”), from Proto-West Germanic *turnēn (“to turn, lathe”) (also the source of German turnen and its derivatives) and Old French torner (“to turn”), both from Latin tornāre (“to round off, turn in a lathe”), from tornus (“lathe”), from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “turning-lathe: a tool used for making circles”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, rub by turning, turn, twist, bore”). Cognate with Old English þrāwan (“to turn, twist, wind”), whence English throw. Displaced native Middle English wenden from Old English wendan (see wend), and Middle English trenden from Old English trendan (see trend), among several other terms.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

""A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.[…]."" — 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

"We didn't start the fire / It was always burning / Since the world's been turning" — 1989 September 18, Billy Joel, “We Didn't Start the Fire”, in Storm Front:

"It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by." — 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 9–10:

"Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work." — 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:

"I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railroad station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town." — 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 12:

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