ABOUT-FACE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of About-face

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/əbˈaʊt-feɪs/ Listen

About-face

noun

Act of pivoting 180 degrees, especially in a military formation. Synonym: about turn.

A major change in attitude or principle or point of view. Synonyms: policy change, reversal, volte-face.

verb

Turn, usually 180 degrees.

Change one's mind and assume the opposite viewpoint.

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Etymology of 'About-face'

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"About-face" Quotes from Famous Books

... and, I dare say, uncertain in its upper notes; but it fetched M. Benest right-about-face again. He perceived that it came from the garden of a solitary cottage up the road, a gunshot and more beyond his signpost. But a tall hedge interrupted his view, and, though he stared long and earnestly, all he could see that day was a pea-stick ...

— The Westcotes • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... Aunt Matilda's about-face, hiding the pictures and telling me to go back to Chicago? Had she threatened whoever was behind this, and gotten her money back? Or had she again become convinced that her financial venture ...

— The Gallery • Roger Phillips Graham

... drew capitally; the Green Dragon was, after all, not very far behind the Knight and Squire; and the Owl came too-hooing, close upon the Dragon's tail; while the General Officer seemed in a great hurry to catch the Owl, and kept singing out "Halt! halt! right-about-face," and other expressions evidently from a somewhat scanty vocabulary of military terms. The rest of the racers came up pretty ...

— Ernest Bracebridge - School Days • William H. G. Kingston