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Verb: turn back  turn bak
  1. Retrace one's course
    "The hikers got into a storm and had to turn back";
    - backtrack, double back
     
  2. Go back to a previous state
    "We turned back to the old rules";
    - revert, return, retrovert, regress
     
  3. Force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings
    "The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers";
    - chase away, drive out, drive away, dispel, drive off, run off
     
  4. Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
    "Turn back the tide of communism";
    - check, arrest, stop, contain, hold back
     
  5. Turn inside out or upside down
    - invert, reverse

Derived forms: turns back, turned back, turning back

See also: drive

Type of: alter, change, change by reversal, defend, displace, modify, move, return, reverse, turn