about-face

1. 1.

   act of pivoting 180 degrees, especially in a military formation

   Synonymsabout turn

   Broaderreversion
2. 2.

   a major change in attitude or principle or point of view

   “an about-face on foreign policy”

   Synonymsvolte-facereversalpolicy change

   Broaderchange

   Narrowerundoing

1. 1.

   turn, usually 180 degrees

   Broaderturn
2. 2.

   change one's mind and assume the opposite viewpoint

   Broaderrethink

Questions about about-face

What does about-face mean?

about-face means "act of pivoting 180 degrees, especially in a military formation". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in about-face?

about-face has 3 syllables: a-bout--face. The stress falls on "a".

What is another word for about-face?

Close synonyms include about turn, volte-face, reversal, policy change. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is about-face a common word?

about-face is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.