volte-face
Americannoun
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volte-face
plural
noun
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a reversal, as in opinion or policy
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a change of position so as to look, lie, etc, in the opposite direction
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of volte-face
First recorded in 1810–20; from French, from Italian voltafaccia, equivalent to volta turn ( see volt 2) + faccia face
Explanation
A volte-face is a sudden reversal of an opinion or policy. A lifelong fan of the New York Yankees who abruptly starts rooting for the team's archrival, the Boston Red Sox, has made a volte-face. The French volte-face literally means "turn face," and its English synonym is about-face. A surprising reversal of political beliefs, a sudden passion for watching television after years of claiming it rots your brain, or a government changing its allegiance from one alliance of countries to another — these are examples of making a volte-face.
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.
What can I say about this complete volte-face?
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
Secondly, the executor of your father’s estate was either asleep on the job and/or had an inexplicable volte-face.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2025
But in what appears to be a volte-face, Burke’s “Ignorance: A Global History” explores the myriad ways in which “not-knowing” affects our lives, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2023
Although the judge said it was difficult to prove how much “moral damage” Santander’s volte-face caused Orcel, he said the bank’s withdrawal created “considerable frustration, uneasiness, uncertainty and a certain discredit in the banking world.”
From Reuters ● Dec. 22, 2021
Miriam looked at him, as if puzzled by this sudden volte-face; then, with a slight shrug of her shoulders, went out of the room.
From The Woman's Way by Charles Garvice
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.
