- present participle of turn.
turning
Americannoun
-
turnings
plural
noun
-
Also called: turn. a road, river, or path that turns off the main way
the fourth turning on the right
-
the point where such a way turns off
-
a bend in a straight course
-
an object made on a lathe
-
another name for turnery
-
(plural) the waste produced in turning on a lathe
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of turning
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at turn, -ing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Drivers in Virginia’s program are allowed to exceed the speed limit twice between turning the car on and off, for 30 seconds each time and by 5 mph.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Tiny pinewood bonfires burned through the night at a mountain cemetery as the largely Christian Philippines remembered its dead, turning the fog-shrouded hilltop into a vast, fragrant altar of light.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
This is rapidly turning into a disaster and we need change: from the board to the manager to the coaching staff to the players.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Homelessness is at a crucial turning point, with L.A.’s numbers rising after two years of reductions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
I’d thought Anna May had been turning into a friend, but apparently, I wasn’t well-suited enough for her.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
"We get a lot of head turnings, if people are driving by, you can tell by their eyes they're just like, what?"
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2025
His initial Sleeping Beauty Castle was built utilizing plywood, PVC, wood turnings and cast resin veneer, but he has since updated the structure with largely polyurethane foam boards and 3D-printed materials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
Oliver cheerily delivered a recap of stories from the last five months before turnings serious, calling the strike “an immensely difficult time” for all those in the industry.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2023
“My publishing history’s just so checkered with sudden reversals, ups and downs, confusions, wrong turnings, and at the end of my life, virtually, it seems like things are starting to work out,” he said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2018
But still, in the end, it was a memorization trick, like counting turnings in the ducts and keeping the quota count.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
