volte-face

American  

[volt-fahs, vohlt-, vawlt^uh-fas] / vɒltˈfɑs, voʊlt-, vɔltəˈfas /

noun

1. a turnabout, especially a reversal of opinion or policy.

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volte-face British  

/ ˈvɒltˈfɑːs /

noun

1. a reversal, as in opinion or policy

2. a change of position so as to look, lie, etc, in the opposite direction

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• volte-face
  plural

Etymology

Origin of volte-face

First recorded in 1810–20; from French, from Italian voltafaccia, equivalent to volta turn ( see volt ²) + faccia face

Explanation

A volte-face is a sudden reversal of an opinion or policy. A lifelong fan of the New York Yankees who abruptly starts rooting for the team's archrival, the Boston Red Sox, has made a volte-face. The French volte-face literally means "turn face," and its English synonym is about-face. A surprising reversal of political beliefs, a sudden passion for watching television after years of claiming it rots your brain, or a government changing its allegiance from one alliance of countries to another — these are examples of making a volte-face.

Example Sentences

What can I say about this complete volte-face?

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2025

Secondly, the executor of your father’s estate was either asleep on the job and/or had an inexplicable volte-face.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 23, 2025

But in what appears to be a volte-face, Burke’s “Ignorance: A Global History” explores the myriad ways in which “not-knowing” affects our lives, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill.

From Washington Post • Feb. 10, 2023

The volte-face leaves our protagonist with a very different legacy.

From New York Times • Aug. 15, 2022

To Roy she had never seemed more charming; and his own abrupt volte-face was unsteadying, to say the least of it.

From Far to Seek A Romance of England and India by Diver, Maud