the worm turns
Definition
› used to describe when a person or group of people who have been treated badly for a long time suddenly become forceful and stop accepting a difficult situation: It seems the worm has turned - after years of silence local people are beginning to protest about waste emissions from the factory.Reacting and responding
(Definition of the worm turns from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Reacting and responding, but you might be interested in these topics from the Doing and achieving topic area:
- Abstaining and refraining
- Acting and acts
- Avoiding action
- Becoming better
- Cancelling and interrupting
- Competing and contending (non-sporting)
- Coping and not coping
- Delaying and wasting time
- Describing the leading position
- Efficient and effective
- Expressions telling people to hurry up
- Failing and doing badly
- Failures
- Getting involved for one's own benefit or against others' will
- Hesitating
- Higher and lower points of achievement
- Hurrying and doing things quickly
- Making progress and advancing
- Making things better
- Performing a function
- Potential
- Repeating an action
- Succeeding, achieving and fulfilling
- Success and achievements
- Successful (things or people)
- Surpassing in quality or number
- Taking part and getting involved
- Trying and making an effort
- Unsuccessful (people and things)
- Waiting
- Ways of achieving things
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SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- alert adjective
- and the same to you with (brass) knobs on idiom
- backlash noun
- chain reaction noun
- counteract verb
- countermeasure noun
- go over phrasal verb
- greet verb
- react verb
- reactive adjective
- receive verb (WELCOME)
- recoil verb
- reflexive adjective (MOVEMENT)
- reflexively adverb
- respond verb
- response noun
- responsive adjective
- sensitive adjective (REACTING EASILY)
- shock wave noun
- wake (sb) up phrasal verb (REACT)
Topic:
Reacting and responding
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