- 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:
The inventor known for household appliances is turning to oral care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
When mediocrity is the core objective of an extremely powerful company like this one, success hinges on turning the once-discerning viewer into a machine cog as mindless as one of Netflix’s baffling originals.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
Roster expansion, returning three players from the injured list, the mental relief of turning the calendar page — none of that gave the Dodgers the boost they needed against the Cardinals on Tuesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Ken Rosewall remains the oldest men's singles slam champion in the Open era, winning the 1972 Australian Open two months after turning 37.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
She says more stuff, I know, because she’s turning pages and pointing, but I don’t hear or see any of it.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
"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
“He didn’t need any instruction really. He just took control, flown us around, made some turnings and basic maneuvers,” Hughes said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
“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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
