turn on

phraseA12 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To turn on is to make a machine or a light start working. A switch, a tap, a dial.

It splits round an object, so you turn the light on. Switch on does the same job, and both are used for anything electrical. There is a quite separate and much darker sense meaning to attack suddenly, so a dog can turn on its owner and a crowd can turn on a speaker. A third sense means to depend on, as in the whole case turns on one letter.

Definitions of turn on

1phraseturn onTo make a device or supply start working.A1
“Please turn on the heating when you get in.”
2phraseattackTo attack suddenly, or to depend on.B2
“The whole argument may turn on that one date.”

Also accepted in games: switch on

Practised in Everyday Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

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