volte-face

noun

ˌvȯlt-ˈfäs

ˌvȯl-tə-

Synonyms of volte-face next

: a reversal in policy : about-face

Did you know?

Volte-face came to English by way of French from Italian voltafaccia, a combination of voltare, meaning "to turn," and faccia, "face." It has existed as an English noun since at least 1819. The corresponding English phrase "about face" saw use in a number of forms in the decades before that, including military commands such as "right about face" (that is, to turn 180 degrees to the right so as to face in the opposite direction); nevertheless, the standalone noun about-face (as in "After declining, he did an abrupt about-face and accepted the offer") is about as old as volte-face. Although foot soldiers have been stepping smartly to the command "About face! Forward march!" for centuries, about-face didn't appear in print as a figurative noun meaning "a reversal of attitude, behavior, or point of view" until the mid-1800s.

Examples of volte-face in a Sentence

the novelist's unexpected volte-face from experimentalism to traditional narrative form

Recent Examples on the Web

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Read More: How Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Pushed Through Asia’s First Cannabis Legalization Cannabis advocacy groups and businesses have voiced their opposition to the policy volte-face, staging rallies and threatening a legal challenge against the premier. —

Pathom Sangwongwanich / Bloomberg, TIME, 27 June 2024 The policy volte-face is another blow to Thailand’s nascent cannabis industry after decriminalization was pitched as a way to boost agricultural income and wellness tourism. —

TIME, 10 May 2024 Jordan’s participation signaled a kind of volte-face for a state that has been unsparing in its criticism of Israel’s six-month military campaign in the Gaza Strip. —

Matt Bradley, NBC News, 16 Apr. 2024 The Brits demanded a volte-face, thought her European stylist Tati Cotliar, fashion director of riotous cool-girl mag Buffalo Zine. —

Alice Newbold, Vogue, 2 Mar. 2024 But some are less positive about the apparent volte-face. —

WIRED, 6 Sep. 2023 By interring the theory, Chief Justice Roberts executed a transparent volte-face. —

Simon Lazarus, The New Republic, 16 Aug. 2023 Companies that are used to trying to appeal to the widest possible consumer base now apparently face a lose-lose situation: continue to pursue LGBTQ consumers and face backlash from bigots, or submit to those complaints and face backlash for the volte-face. —

Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 1 June 2023