turn away
Britishverb
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to move or cause to move in a different direction so as not to face something
one of the child turned away while the others hid
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(tr) to refuse admittance or assistance to
dozens of people were turned away from the hostel
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Send away, dismiss, as in They ran short and had to turn away many customers . [Late 1500s]
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Repel, as in The high prices turned away prospective buyers .
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Avert, deflect, as in She managed to turn away all criticism . [Late 1300s]
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.
"If you behave badly and don't leave my family in peace then I'll be gone, I'll just turn away," Klopp said.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Wearing a tan jumpsuit, he read a prepared statement in Spanish in which he extraordinarily urged young people to turn away from violence.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Some turn away from the woman’s divine presence, others seem deep in discussion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Children were dying, and as the father of two young girls, I couldn’t comprehend why he would turn away from science.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
I was about to turn away when I saw a small constellation of rocks, stacked as if on a gravestone.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
