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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

turn to en · VERB

Meanings

  1. With to as particle
  2. (intransitive) With to as particle: ▸ To apply oneself; to focus; to get one's head down.
    • "No; because when I come in from the forge of a night, any one can see me turning to at it. But you never turn to at it, Biddy." 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XVII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 269:
    • All hands, turn to!
  3. (intransitive) With to as preposition: ▸ To become.
    • Near-synonyms: (intransitive) get, turn, go, come, fall, grow, wax; (reflexive) make [oneself], make [oneself] into
    • Iron turns to rust in the presence of air and water.
    • all things turn to dust
  4. (transitive) With to as preposition: ▸ To cause (something or someone) to become.
    • Near-synonyms: (transitive) make, make into
    • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll. 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
    • He turned water to wine.
  5. With to as preposition: ▸ To consult for advice or help.
    • When I'm in trouble, I turn to my pastor to help me.
  6. With to as preposition: ▸ To start to do or to use something in an attempt to deal with a difficult and unpleasant situation.
    • Breakups can be incredibly difficult, but one may wish to seek therapy rather than turn to drugs.
  7. With to as preposition: ▸ To direct one's attention or efforts toward something.
    • In 1939 he turned to films in earnest.
    • How do we find constructive ways to respond to a situation this complex? Two groups of essays in the anthology turn to this question. 1987 February 22, N. Diffloth, “Violence, by Women, against Women”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 31, page 8:
  8. With to as preposition: ▸ Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see turn, to.
    • To start my homework, I had to turn to page twenty in my textbook.
    • Turn to the left up here.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
turned to Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
turned to Tense=Past lexicographic
turning to Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
turns to Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Synonyms

convert · come · make · grow · turn · wax · make · change · change · run to · convert · get · make into · make into · transform · turn into · go · turn into · look to · transform · fall

Translations (14)

fi kääntyä jonkun puoleen (to consult for advice) · fi muuttua (to become) · es recurrir a (to consult for advice) · it rivolgersi (to consult for advice) · pl zwrócić się (to consult for advice) · sv vända sig till (to consult for advice) · es tornarse en (to become) · es acudir a (to consult for advice) · de sich verwandeln in (to become) · pl zwracać się (to consult for advice) · de sich wenden an (to consult for advice) · es convertirse en (to become) · fi kysyä neuvoa (to consult for advice) · tr dönüşmek (to become)