about-face

an about-face

A sudden, complete turn or change of direction. This phrase can describe one's physical movement or a change in concept. She did an about-face and walked back up the steps once she saw that the subway wasn't running. Based on the reactions we got from test audiences, we need to do an about-face with the movie's plot.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

* about-face (on someone or something)

Fig. a reversal of attitude or action. (*Typically: do ~; have ~.) She did an about-face on her rule about not eating in the living room. Now we can do it if we want.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • an about-face
  • do an about-face
  • go through the change
  • scenery
  • a change of scenery
  • change of scenery
  • a change of scene
  • change of scene
  • change of scene, a
  • the change of life
References in periodicals archive
In the end, Kallas recognised his errors, said he had not realised how sensitive the issue was and left the door open to another about-face by saying he would give the matter more thought.
Such was the outcry that the Blairs have been forced to perform an about-face, offering to pay for any child whose parents cannot afford the journey.
The move follows an about-face by the report's author.
Thiruvananthapuram The Communist Party of India Marxist yesterday did an about-face and decided to field Kerala chief minister and veteran leader V.S.
He added that Turkey probably benefited from the popular climate that supports the Islamic Justice and Development Party in order to list its "about-face in a democratic context that combines the society's mood and foreign policy changes."
It has clearly been a big effort by MRC committee man Mike Symons, who has been in discussions with RV on behalf of the jumps racing industry, to achieve this about-face and give the sport some hope of continuing to 2011 and beyond.
The Palestinian Authority has apparently done an about-face, and is expected to oppose the Goldstone report in a UN vote Friday.
The results are a stunning about-face from a previous Bendixen poll conducted Aug.
Those warnings likely were key to the administration's about-face. Last month, it said it would not oppose a court order to release 44 photos by May 28, an order that had been sought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The about-face comes after consumers complained about the makeover in letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls and clamored for a return of the original look.
You could have almost predicted that the next piece of confusing information was going to be an about-face on that advice.
A NORTH KOREAN ABOUT-FACE (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)
The Commerce Department said Friday it will impose duties on imports of coated paper from China, in an about-face from a decades-old policy of not applying duties to subsidized goods from non-market economies.
"This could be viewed as a total about-face when considering the recent trend in favor of the outsourcing mega-deal."
(The Web site reported that he'd given his "longtime sweetheart," David Burtka, a role on his CBS TV show, How I Met Your Mother.) Harris quickly seemed to realize that cover-up was not the way to go, and in an about-face told People magazine that he was indeed a "content gay man." The same was true of Grey's Anatomy's T.R.