U-turn

• u-turn

From U +‎ turn, from the similarity to the shape of the letter U.

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U-turn (plural U-turns)

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

   Synonym: uey (informal)

   Hypernyms: turnaround < turn

   Hyponyms: handbrake turn, moonshiner's turn

   Coordinate terms: three-point turn, K-turn

   • 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^[1]:

     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.

2. (figuratively) A reversal of policy or opinion.

   Synonyms: about-face, flipflop, flip-flop, backflip, turnaround

   Hypernym: turn

   Coordinate term: left turn

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

   • 2023 October 10, Senay Boztas, “Frans Timmermans urges European left to unite against right’s climate backlash”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     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.

• Often used in the phrases do a U-turn or make a U-turn.

• → Japanese: Ｕターン (yūtān)
• → Korean: 유턴 (yuteon)

U-turn (third-person singular simple present U-turns, present participle U-turning, simple past and past participle U-turned)

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

   Synonyms: (all informal, most regional) hang a uey, bang a uey, flip a bitch (US), chuck a uey (Australia)

   Hypernyms: turn around < turn

   Coordinate terms: hang a Louie (←), hang a Ralph (→)

2. (intransitive) To shift from one opinion or decision to its opposite.

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

   Coordinate term: come around

   • 2022 October 5, Rowena Mason, “Liz Truss promises ‘growth, growth and growth’ in protest-hit speech”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     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.