volte-face

See also: volte face

English

WOTD – 15 July 2011

Etymology

Borrowed from French volte-face.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /vɒltˈfæs/, /-ˈfɑːs/

Noun

volte-face (plural volte-faces)

A reversal of policy, attitude or principle.
Synonyms: about-face, U-turn

Translations

a reversal of policy, attitude or principle

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: կտրուկ շրջադարձ (ktruk šrǰadarj)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 变卦 (zh) (biàn guà)
Czech: obrat o 180 stupňů m
Dutch: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: takinkääntö (fi)
French: volte-face (fr) f, demi-tour (fr) m, marche arrière (fr) f, revirement (fr) m
German: please add this translation if you can

Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Italian: voltafaccia (it) m, voltagabbana (it) m, traditore (it) m, banderuola (it) m, voltacasacca m
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Portuguese: reviravolta f
Russian: круто́й поворо́т (krutój povorót), резкая переме́на (rezkaja pereména)
Spanish: media vuelta f
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

volte-face on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /vɔl.t(ə).fas/

Noun

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

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

Further reading

“volte-face” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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