turn upside down

Idioms  

1. Put in disorder, mix or mess up, as in He turned the whole house upside down looking for his checkbook. This metaphoric phrase transfers literally inverting something so that the upper part becomes the lower (or vice versa) to throwing into disorder or confusion. [First half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

turn upside down

“In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason,” the business posted online, saying “great people in this community” were lost.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 26, 2023

"In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason," Schemengees posted on its Facebook page.

From Reuters ● Oct. 26, 2023

Outside, she could see their car submerged, and then turn upside down, with only the round edge of the tires visible above the rising water.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2022

Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan and a former G.M. executive, said in an interview, “I had been saying to all the autos: ‘When Joe Biden gets elected, your world will turn upside down.

From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2021

The ship was trying to turn upside down, kept from capsizing only by the strength of its masts where they tangled in the Teeth.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi

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