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Synonyms

turn one's back on

Idioms  

  1. Deny, reject; also abandon, forsake. For example, I can't turn my back on my own daughter, no matter what she's done, or He simply turned his back on them and never gave it a second thought. [c. 1400] Also see when one's back is turned.

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.

"This is not a moment to turn one's back on difficulties, but to confront difficulties, so I am not quitting," Costa told parliament.

From Reuters • Oct. 26, 2021

Francois Delattre said that 25 years after the Oslo Accords started the peace process, “there might be a temptation to turn one’s back on the agreed framework.”

From Seattle Times • Mar. 27, 2019

To paraphrase the sociologist Max Weber, in order to take a share in charisma, one must turn one's back on the world.

From BBC • Aug. 24, 2015

It is hard to turn one's back on light and wealth and lavish welcome and illusion, only to meet again with the dark struggle, poverty, gloom, dread and want.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now that Anjou was a king, one did not turn one's back on him.

From The Saracen: The Holy War by Shea, Robert

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.