Home › Glossary › Letter T

Turn the tables

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An idiom meaning to reverse a situation so that the disadvantaged party gains the advantage, often implying a sudden shift in power dynamics, fortune, or control between opposing sides.

Detailed Definition
Turn the tables means to reverse a situation so that the person formerly disadvantaged gains power over the one who held it. In poetry, the idiom is useful for revenge, justice, comic reversal, political uprising, romantic power shifts, or ironic fate. The table image suggests a game, meal, courtroom, or domestic space suddenly reoriented. A poet may use it to show liberation, humiliation, or the instability of hierarchy. It is valuable for exploring reversal and dramatic change in power.
Example
Example in poetry:
A revenge ballad might show the servant turning the tables on the arrogant lord; In a comic poem, the pupil turns the tables by testing the teacher with a harder riddle; The phrase means to reverse a situation so the weaker side gains advantage; A poet can use it for irony and justice.
Additional Notes
Turn the tables means reverse a situation so that the former victim, loser, or weaker party gains advantage. The idiom may evoke board games, dining tables, or positions literally reversed. In poetry, it suits revenge, satire, social justice, romantic reversal, political uprising, and trickster narratives. Students should notice the pleasure and danger of reversal: justice may be restored, or the old pattern of domination may simply change hands.
Also Known As
Flip the script
Skip to main content