TURN TO

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does turn to mean? 

• TURN TO (verb)
  The verb TURN TO has 2 senses:

1. speak to

2. direct one's interest or attention towards; go into

  Familiarity information: TURN TO used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TURN TO (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Speak to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

address; turn to

Context example:

He addressed the crowd outside the window

Hypernyms (to "turn to" is one way to...):

communicate; intercommunicate (transmit thoughts or feelings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "turn to"):

address; call (greet, as with a prescribed form, title, or name)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Direct one's interest or attention towards; go into

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

People turn to mysticism at the turn of a millennium

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

Now let’s turn to your home life and thoughts about your family.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

As Matt had pleaded for White Fang when he had been bitten, it was now Weedon Scott's turn to plead.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I should still have my unblighted self to turn to: my natural unenslaved feelings with which to communicate in moments of loneliness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Now it is your turn to die.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

After a pause of some minutes, she addressed him a second time with:—“It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I turn to you, Mr. Holmes, as absolutely my last hope.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was our visitor’s turn to look surprised.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had retired early to rest, but it was impossible for me to sleep, for my mind would turn to Boy Jim and to the extraordinary change in his position and prospects.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The only way of proving it, however, will be to turn to our maps.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Alleyne said nothing, but his heart seemed to turn to a lump of ice in his bosom.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)