u-turn

plural u-turns

1. Alternative letter-case form of U-turn.

   "The PM’s private reassurances are worthless given her track record of u-turns and her clear desperation to cling to power."

   2017 June 11, “DUP leader hails 'good progress' with Theresa May”, in The Scotsman, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2025

plural U-turns · alternative u-turn

1. A turn in a vehicle carried out by driving in a semicircle in order to travel in the opposite direction.

   What's disappointing about all this doom and gloom is that the franchise has made the kind of whiplashing U-turn you might see in its car-chase sequences.

   2025 May 14, Nicholas Barber, “'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of the summer”, in BBC, archived from the original on 23 Jul 2025

   Synonyms: uey

2. figurativelyA reversal of policy or opinion.

   The government have done a U-turn and are now supporting greater European integration instead of opposing it.

   1 more example

   Rishi Sunak, the UK prime minister, announced a major U-turn on the government’s climate commitments last month, pushing back the deadline for selling new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.

   2023 October 10, Senay Boztas, “Frans Timmermans urges European left to unite against right’s climate backlash”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 23 Dec 2023

   Synonyms: about-face, flipflop, flip-flop, backflip, turnaround, turnabout, row-back

present singular third person U-turns · participle present U-turning · participle past U-turned · past U-turned · alternative u-turn

1. To turn a vehicle in a semicircle so as to face the opposite direction (∩)).

   Synonyms: hang a uey, bang a uey, flip a bitch, chuck a uey

2. intransitiveTo shift from one opinion or decision to its opposite.

   She made the case for cutting taxes as “the right thing to do morally and economically”, despite having just U-turned over her decision to abolish the 45p top rate of income tax.

   2022 October 5, Rowena Mason, “Liz Truss promises ‘growth, growth and growth’ in protest-hit speech”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 02 Apr 2023

   Synonyms: flip, flop, flip-flop, flipflop, turn around