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a volte-face Formal
Meaning: If you make a volte-face, you change your opinion or your decision about something to the exact opposite of what it was.
For example:
- When Nancy became a born-again Christian, she made a volte-face in her views on abortion and now she thinks it's wrong.
- For some reason the government has done a volte-face on the dam proposal. They'd rejected it until last week, and then they suddenly said they'd build it after all.
Origin: This phrase derives from the Italian "voltafaccia", as in "volta" (turn) and "faccia" (face). It was adopted by the French, who changed it to "volte-face", and then it was adopted into formal English.
Quick Quiz:
After all the controversy about the violence in the movie, the cinema showing it did a volte-face and decided
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