The Phrasal Verb 'Turn Off' Explained
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'turn off' 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 like a native.
In this post, I will be explaining 'turn off', which is a wonderful phrasal verb that can be used to talk about many different things such as driving, showers, lights and sexual attraction. In this post, I will explain its 3 different meanings for you and provide you with lots of example sentences for each one to make it clear when and how you should use them. So, without further ado, let's make a start and find out what the phrasal verb 'turn off' is all about....
TABLE OF CONTENTSÂ (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
TURN OFF: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 3 |
Past tense forms | Turned off / Turned off |
Separable? | Yes |
As you will learn in the post, the phrasal verb 'turn off' has three distinct meanings, however what exactly do the individual words 'turn' and 'off' mean individually? Let's start the post by taking a look at these....
Turn - The verb 'to turn' is one that is common in English and primarily means to move in a circular direction or to move in order to face a different direction. In addition, we can also use 'to turn' to mean 'to become' when talking about a change of state or age and it is commonly used with prepositional particles like 'off' and 'on' to form phrasal verbs linked to these movements or changes. Unlike many of the commonest verbs in English, 'to turn' is regular and both past tense forms take the '-ed' ending 😃
The Earth is constantly turning.
I turned my head to look at the sun.
It is turning cold; I am going to go inside.
My Dad is turning 80 later this month.
She hurt her back when she turned over in bed last night.
Off - The prepositional particle 'off' is an extremely common word in English that functions as the natural opposite of the word 'on'. Some of its core ideas include moving away from a place or position, separation, disconnection, removal and not being on or supported by a surface and these ideas are often carried across into phrasal verbs (head off, cut off, lop off, fall off).
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's consider the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'turn off'....
MEANING 1: To turn from a road
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To turn left/right, to pull off, to come off |
Separable? | No |
We are going to start the meanings of 'turn off' with a really common one that will be useful for any of you who drive a car and that is 'to turn from a road'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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We use 'turn off' in this way to refer to when we are travelling along a road and we then leave the road by turning either left or right to join another. This is usually when travelling along a main road or highway and leaving it in order to travel on a smaller or narrower one.
If you remember from the Basics section, I mentioned that the natural opposite of 'off' is 'on'
and when we travel along a road, we say that we are 'on' it. Therefore, when you leave the road, you come 'off' it and the only (safe) way that this is possible is by turning the car to a different direction.
To clarify, we use 'turn off' to mean turning either left or right, normally at a junction or intersection. We often use it when the direction is not relevant or important and therefore does not need to be specified; in order to do this you would say 'turn left' or 'turn right' instead.
We do not always just use this application of 'turn off' with cars as it can also be used for walking, running or moving along paths, trails or tracks and leaving them.
You should note that it is common to use the extra prepositions 'at' to specify the place where you leave the road and 'onto' to specify the smaller road that you travel along after leaving the main road. This usage is inseparable. |
We turned off the main road and drove into a quiet village in search of a shop.
You need to turn off at the next junction.
Sandra turned off the motorway to get some petrol.
If you turn off here, you’ll reach the beach faster.
They turned off the path and walked through the middle of the forest.
I think we turned off too early; we’re lost now.
The car turned off onto a narrow country lane.
Don’t forget to turn off before the bridge.
MEANING 2: To stop something functioning
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To switch off, to deactivate |
Separable? | Yes |
The second of the applications of the phrasal verb 'turn off' that we will explore in this post is perhaps the most common of its three meanings and is 'to stop something from functioning'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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You can see in the list above that there are a lot of nouns that it is possible to use this application with. In fact, there are a lot more than than this and the reason is that we can use 'turn off' in this way for anything that requires a flow of electricity, water or gas through it in order to function. This therefore includes all electrical devices and plumbing fixtures (taps, showers etc) that we describe as 'on' when there is a flow and they are functioning.
Typically, for all of these items that can be 'on' or 'off', there is a switch, button or tap that needs to be pressed or turned in order to stop their flow and operation of the item and this is how we arrive at this meaning of 'turn off'.
On a grammatical note, unlike the previous application, this one is separable and native speakers use it separably all the time. There is no change in meaning if it is used separably or inseparably.
Please can you turn off the lights when you leave the room.
Don’t forget to turn off the oven.
Mike turned off the TV and went to bed.
Can you turn your phone off during the meeting?
Mary turned off her alarm before it woke everyone up.
Make sure you turn off the engine before getting out of the car.
I always turn my laptop off at night.
They turned the off heating because it was too warm.
There is something wrong with the oven and it won't turn off!
Turn the computer off and back on again and that should resolve the issue!
COMMON ERROR TO AVOID!One error that I often hear my students make is to say 'to close' something, particularly with water taps and faucets, when they mean 'turn off'. You should note that 'to close' and 'to turn off' have different meanings in English and while sometimes your interlocutor may understand what you mean from the context if you do say 'to close', you may end up confusing them! |
MEANING 3: To cause someone to lose interest in something
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To switch off, to check out |
Separable? | Yes |
If you have read many of my phrasal verb posts, you may have noticed that there is often a slightly negative application that comes at the end. This third and final application of 'turn off' is no different and means 'to cause someone to lose interest in something'.
For this application, there are three main ideas that we will cover, which are to make you feel bored and uninterested in something, to stop feeling sexual attraction and to make you start to dislike something....
Firstly, we can use 'turn off' just to refer to when we stop feeling interested or excited about something. This can either be something that we like in general or it can be when we get bored and stop paying attention to something (however 'switch off' is more common for this). I would say that while you may hear it being used in this way, it is more common to use 'put off' here.
The long introduction really turned me off the film.
Phil's negative attitude turned me off the idea completely.
Too many ads can turn people off a website.
That single experience turned her off travelling.
The slow pace of the book turned him off reading it.
Rude customer service can quickly turn customers off a brand.
If we now change our perspective from being interested in something to being interested in someone, we arrive at the idea of sexual attraction and desire for another person. If something turns you on, it makes you feel sexually excited and likewise if something turns you off, it stops you feeling that sense of sexual attraction or excitement.
Note that this can be used to talk about attraction in general life when you stop finding someone attractive or it may be in the moment of passion when your sexual desire goes away. Typically, this is used when one thing or action changes the way someone feels.
On a grammatical note, we normally use this in a separable way, often with a pronoun or name of the person experiencing the dislike going between 'turn' and 'off'. It is common to add a second pronoun or the name of the person who you no longer like after the word 'off'.
His bad kissing really turned me off.
That comment on animals rights completely turned her of him.
Smoking is something that really turns me off.
Colin's arrogance turned Michelle off straight away.
Bad hygiene can turn people off instantly.
The way he spoke to the waiter turned me off him.
Her rude behaviour really turned me off her.
Sometimes if someone does something really bad, not only can it can make us stop being sexually interested in them, but it can also make us dislike the person or even feel disgusted by them in extreme cases. You should note that we can also use this application of 'turn off' to describe when someone does something that gives us a feeling of dislike too.
The teacher’s strict approach turned him off the subject and he's never liked it since.
That film turned me off horror movies completely.
BONUS: The noun 'turn-off'
Like with many phrasal verbs, 'turn off' has a noun that is derived directly from its meanings and the noun 'turn-off' has two distinct meanings that I will make you explain for you now....
The first of these links back to the first phrasal verb application regarding roads and paths and is simply another word for a junction; i.e. the place where one road meets or intersects with another.
Take the second turn-off after the petrol station.
We missed the turn-off for the village and had to drive another five miles.
The second of the meanings of the noun 'turn-off' is used for anything that makes you lose interest or stop liking something. This is most commonly heard in the world of dating and relationships where a 'turn-off' is something that stops a person feeling sexual desire towards someone else....
Bad hygiene is a real turn-off for me.
His arrogance was a huge turn-off.
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 off'. 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 off'. 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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THE END