An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'turn' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
The phrasal verb 'turn down' is a commonly used phrasal verb that has several idiomatic meanings used in everyday English. In addition, there are also some specific situations in which we can use it. We will look at all of them in turn over the course of this post, so let's not put it off any longer and let's get started....
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TURN DOWN: KEY INFORMATION For an explanation of the terms in the table, click here
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Turned down / Turned down |
Separable? | Yes= |
MEANINGS (Click to jump to each one)
THE BASICS
Although I am sure that you are already familiar with the phrasal verb 'turn down', it is always a good idea to look at the individual words as a starting point, as these can often help us understand some of the idiomatic meanings of phrasal verbs.
Firstly, we have the verb 'to turn'. This is a verb with a few different meanings, including to move in a circular path, to change direction or to change and become something else. I think that the overarching (main) idea of the verb 'to turn' though is a change of position or state.
Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'down', which can be used as an adverb and a preposition and broadly means be in, or to move towards, a lower position or place ⬇️ (from a higher one).
So, now that we are familiar with the words, let's check out the different meanings that we have in English when we combine these two words to get the phrasal verb 'turn down'....
MEANING 1: To reduce the intensity of something
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To reduce, to lower, to decrease |
Commonly used with | Volume, heat, music, television |
Our first meaning of the phrasal verb 'turn down' is to reduce the intensity of the output of an item of equipment, such as a television, a heating system or a radio.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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When we turn something down, we ultimately want the amount of energy produced by the equipment to be lower, for example because a television is too loud, an oven is too hot or a light is too bright.
As you may have already worked out, this meaning of 'turn down' originated from the action of adjusting switches or controls by turning them from a higher setting or number to a lower one.
'Turn down' is a separable phrasal verb and is used very commonly in separable form by native speakers, often with the pronoun 'it' when we have already mentioned the equipment. Note that there is no change in meaning between the separable and inseparable form.
Your music is so loud! Can you turn it down please?
It was like a sauna in here earlier, so I turned the heating down.
Bring the liquid to the boil, then slightly turn down the heat before adding the pasta.
John turned down the brightness on his phone to save battery.
MEANING 2: To refuse or reject something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Separable | Yes |
Potential synonyms | To refuse, to reject, to decline |
Used commonly with | Invitation, application, offer, job |
Another extremely common meaning of 'turn down' is one that you are likely to come across in everyday English and means to refuse, reject or not accept something.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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Broadly speaking, there are two different ways in which 'turn down' can be used here.
The first is when you actively decide to refuse something such as an invitation or an offer. An example of this could be that you are offered a job, however it is in another city and you are not prepared to move house, so you decide to not accept the job, or in other words, you turn it down. Other situations in which this meaning is commonly used would be when you do not accept an invitation to a party, social event or an offer of a place at a university.
The second way that 'turn down' is frequently used in English as a way of rejecting something is in the passive sense, i.e. when you apply for something and your application is rejected or turned down. Using the example of a job application again, imagine that you apply for the job of your dreams, however you receive a response from the company advising you that your job application has not been successful. In other words, your application has been turned down.
Hopefully you will never be in the above situation, but if you are, it is worth remembering that 'turn down' is quite informal and companies are more likely to say that your "application has not been successful" in their communication to you (as in the above example). Other synonyms that companies may use as an alternative to "turned down", could be "rejected" or "denied". We are more likely to use "turn down" when telling our friends and family about it in a more informal setting.
Remember that in the passive form, it is not possible to use 'turned down' separably.
Unfortunately I have to turn down the kind invitation to your wedding as I will be on vacation on that date.
I turned down the offer of a job promotion as I didn't want the extra stress that it would bring.
Our application to build an extension on our house has been turned down by the planning office.
Eleanor turned down the job offer because the salary wasn’t high enough.
Roger asked Lisa out on a date, but she turned him down.
The company turned down our proposal for a business partnership.
I regretfully had to turn down the invitation because I was too busy.
The bank turned down Nigel's loan application due to bad credit.
EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER
When using "turn down" in the passive sense, as mentioned above, it is also very common to use the construction 'to get turned down' instead of the more standard 'to be turned down'. This is common usage among native speakers in spoken English, although I would say that this is perhaps even more informal than 'be turned down'.
My army application got turned down because I am not fit enough!
What will you do if the application gets turned down?
MEANING 3: To decrease
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | to decline, to decrease |
Separable? | No |
A much rarer meaning of 'turn down' is used specifically to mean a decline or a decrease in the rate of something. This is most frequently used to talk about the stock market, but can also be used to talk about birth and death rates, rates of diseases (e.g. Covid-19) or rates of unemployment.
Generally speaking, it could be used with anything that can be plotted on a line graph (showing a decline).
Please note that this usage of 'turn down' is not separable.
Investors will lose money if the market turns down.
The stock market turned down sharply in the wake of the disappointing earnings report.
Shares of the company turned down following the news of regulatory issues.
After several months of growth, the tech sector began to turn down due to economic uncertainty.
Investors panicked as the index turned down amid rising inflation concerns.
EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER
The reason that I wanted to include this rarer usage of 'turn down' on this post is because it also has a corresponding noun, 'downturn', which is used much more commonly in everyday English than its verb counterpart. Like the verb, 'downturn' is commonly used by native speakers to describe declines in activities and rates, especially across the business and economics world.
In the year 2020 there was a sharp downturn in the world's major economies as the Covid pandemic struck.
MEANING 4: To fold or face downward
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To fold, to fold over, to turn over, to face downward |
Separable? | Yes |
This fourth usage of 'turn down' means to fold something, i.e. to bend something, such as paper or cloth, so that a part of it rests on top of the other. 'Turn down' can be used as a synonym of 'fold' specifically when we are folding the top part of piece of paper in a downward direction, so that it covers a part or all of the top surface. This could be done to hide what is on the paper or to act as a marker. A prime example of this is when people turn down the top corner of a page in a book that they are reading, so that they know which page they last read.
This isn't such a common usage, but it is still worth being aware of it.
Another way that 'turn down' is used is when you turn something over, such as a piece of paper or a playing card, so that the detail or the information on it is now facing downwards and is not visible to people. This is used a lot in card games.
It is also common to use 'turned down' in an adjective form to describe cards that are facing downwards.
I hate it when people turn down the page corners of their books! Why can't they use a bookmark?!
All of the cards must be turned down at the start of the game.
James turned down the pages of the book to mark his place.
The waiter turned down the edges of the tablecloth to keep it neat.
SOME EXTRA MEANINGS FOR YOU....
An extra way that native speakers use the phrasal verb 'turn down' that you may hear in everyday conversation is when giving directions or talking about a journey. Often when referring to roads and streets, native speakers will use the prepositions 'up' and 'down' to talk about a movement along them (as far as I know, there is no difference between them, it is just something that we do 🤷♂️). When talking about turning from one road onto another and also sometimes then driving along it, it is very common to hear native speakers say things like "turn down that road" or "turn down the first road on the left for 100 metres".
HAVE YOU EVER HAD TURNDOWN SERVICE?
Before ending this post, I just want to make you aware of one last usage of 'turn down' that you may come across, especially when staying in hotels. Turndown service is where hotel staff enter a guest's room whilst they are out and prepare it for them by making the bed and sometimes even leaving a mint or small chocolate on the guest's pillow. The end result is that the bed is nice and fresh for the guest when they come to sleep in it that evening.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'turn down'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'turn down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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