volte-face

English

WOTD – 15 July 2011    

Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowing from French

Noun

volte-face

1. a reversal of policy, attitude or principle

Synonyms

• (a reversal of policy, attitude or principle): about-face, U-turn

Translations

a reversal of policy, attitude or principle

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 变卦 (cmn) (biàn guà)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: takinkääntö (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: please add this translation if you can

• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
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• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: reviravolta (pt) f
• Russian: крутой поворот (ru) (krutoj povorot), резкая перемена (ru) (rezkaja peremena)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

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French

Etymology

Italian volta-faccia, itself from voltare (“to turn”) + faccia (“face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vɔlt.fas/

Noun

volte-face f (plural volte-face or volte-faces)

1. U-turn; about face (act of turning round 180 degrees)
2. (figuratively) U-turn; volte-face