volte-face

noun

ˌvȯlt-ˈfäs

ˌvȯl-tə-

Synonyms of volte-face

: 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

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Britain is not the only country pressed into making a volte-face. —London Business School, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025 The realities of Putin’s momentum, coupled with Washington’s volte-face, have led to a clear mood shift in Kyiv. —Daryna Mayer, NBC News, 13 Feb. 2025