by turns
IdiomsExample Sentences
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Local artists, with easy access to Carrara marble quarried just down the coast, created thousands of sculpted scenes that by turns commemorate, re-create or just refer to the dead in towering dioramas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Blake was, by turns, crude, evasive, combative and menacing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
He is accompanied on his reluctant journey to the finish line with a group of characters who by turns torment and placate him.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
“Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It” is, by turns, heartbreaking and inspirational.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026
Picasso admitted guilt and denied it by turns.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.