about-turnEnglishOxford American Thesaurusabout-turn British noun 1 he saluted, did an about-turn, and marched out of the tent: about-face, volte-face, turnaround, U-turn, rowback; informal U-ey, one-eighty. 2 the government was forced to make an embarrassing about-turn over the bill: reversal, retraction, backtracking, swing, shift, swerve, U-turn, volte-face, turnaround; change of heart, change of mind, sea change.verb suddenly he about-turned and saluted again: about-face, turn around, do a U-turn, reverse, row back.