about-face
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A reversal in direction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhbowtfaysSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈbaʊtfeɪs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
figurative
A reversal in direction; a reversal of attitude or opinion.
military
An abrupt turn to face the opposite direction.
verb
To change opinion or attitude drastically.
Turn, usually 180 degrees
intransitive
To turn 180 degrees to face the opposite direction.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A reversal in direction; a reversal of attitude or opinion.
Used this way, about-face is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: reversal in direction
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.