turn against

phrasal verb

turned against; turning against; turns against

1

: to stop supporting or being friendly to (someone or something)

The senator eventually turned against the war.

She turned against her best friend.

2

: to cause (someone) to stop being friendly toward (someone)

He tried to turn our friends against us.

3

: to use (something) in a way that harms or discredits (someone)

Her political opponent tried to turn her many years of experience in Washington against her.

Examples of turn against in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Read: The simple explanation for why Trump turned against Ukraine Trump has now made the restoration of his personal relationship with Putin a top foreign-policy priority; negotiating an agreement to end the war in Ukraine is a secondary or tertiary concern. —Michael McFaul, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2025

By the time Deepti arrives at the venue, the tide has wholly turned against Shake. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025

The concept might sound straightforward, but until data started to emerge from this small trial, few expected the immune system could be turned against pancreatic cancer. —Lisa Jarvis, Twin Cities, 9 Mar. 2025

What To Know As tensions between Washington and Kyiv have risen with the words exchanged by their respective leaders, a rift has grown and the U.S could potentially turn against Ukraine after conducting peace talks and excluding Kyiv in Saudi Arabia. —Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 20 Feb. 2025

Rhymes for turn against

• recommenced
• recompensed
• commenced
• condensed
• dispensed
• expensed
• incensed
• unfenced
• fenced
• sensed
• tensed