turning point

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

turning point (plural turning points)

1. A decisive point at which a significant change or historical event occurs, or at which a decision must be made.

   Synonyms: crossroads, watershed

   • 1997, Billie Joe Armstrong (lyrics and music), “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”, performed by Green Day:

     Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road / Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Europe will be watching the final battle closely. A Hollande victory in the second round would be a turning point in European politics, a rare victory for the left in Europe, which has in recent years moved towards the right

2. (calculus) A maximum or minimum on a graph.
3. A crossroads.
4. A T-junction.
5. A place at which one changes their direction of travel.
   • 1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493:

     Chicago was the turning point of my journey and I left there at midnight abroad ^[sic] the "Chicagoan," an express of the New York Central System.

Translations

decisive point

• Bulgarian: повратна точка f (povratna točka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 轉折點／转折点 (zh) (zhuǎnzhédiǎn)

• Danish: vendepunkt n
• Dutch: keerpunt (nl) n, wendepunt n
• Finnish: käännekohta (fi), murros (fi)
• French: tournant (fr) m, moment charnière (fr) m
• Galician: punto de inflexión
• German: Wendepunkt (de) m, Zäsur (de) f (formal)
• Hungarian: fordulópont (hu)
• Icelandic: þáttaskil (is) n pl
• Italian: svolta (it) f, inversione (it) f
• Japanese: 転機 (ja) (て​んき, tenki), 変わり目 (かわりめ, kawarime)
• Korean: 전기(轉機) (ko) (jeon'gi), 전환점(轉換點) (ko) (jeonhwanjeom)
• Latin: discrīmen (la) n
• Maori: taihuringa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vendepunkt (no) n

  Nynorsk: vendepunkt n

• Persian: نقطه‌ی عطف, دگرگون‌گاه
• Polish: punkt zwrotny m
• Portuguese: virada de mesa f, ponto de inflexão
• Romanian: punct de cotitură n
• Russian: перело́мный моме́нт m (perelómnyj momént), поворо́тный моме́нт m (povorótnyj momént), поворо́тный пункт m (povorótnyj punkt)
• Spanish: punto de inflexión (es) m
• Swedish: vändpunkt (sv) c
• Thai: จุดวิกฤต (jùt-wí-grʉ̀t)
• Turkish: dönüm noktası (tr)
• Ukrainian: перело́мний моме́нт m (perelómnyj momént), поворо́тний моме́нт m (povorótnyj momént), поворо́тний пункт m (povorótnyj punkt), перело́м m (perelóm)
• Vietnamese: bước ngoặt (vi), bước quyết định

(calculus) maximum or minimum

• Bulgarian: екстремум m (ekstremum)
• Danish: vendepunkt n
• Finnish: ääriarvo (fi), käännepiste (fi)
• German: Extremwert (de) m
• Norwegian: vendepunkt (no) n
• Swedish: extremvärde (sv) n
• Thai: จุดวกกลับ (jùt-wók-glàp)
• Turkish: kırılma noktası

crossroads — see crossroads

T-junction — see T-junction

See also

• momentous (English adjective-equivalent)
• tipping point