扭转

• Pinyin: niǔ zhuǎn
• Hanzi breakdown: 扭 = 扌 (hand) + 丑 (turned) — to turn with effort; 转 = 车 (wheel) + 专 (focused) — to spin/revolve around a point

Meaning

To reverse; to turn around; to change the direction of a situation.

Primarily used to describe the reversal or correction of a negative trend, situation, or outcome. 扭转局面 (turn the situation around), 扭转乾坤 (reverse the course of events — lit. 'reverse heaven and earth', idiom), 扭转败局 (reverse a losing situation). Implies active intervention to change what would otherwise be an unfavourable outcome. Also used physically: to twist and turn something.

Examples

1. 教练在中场休息时调整了战术布置，成功扭转了上半场被动挨打的局面，带领球队最终逆转取胜。 During halftime, the coach adjusted the tactical setup and successfully turned around their beaten-down first-half situation, leading the team to a comeback win.
2. 政府出台了一系列扶贫政策，有效扭转了山区贫困人口长期无法脱贫的困境。 The government introduced a series of poverty-alleviation policies that effectively reversed the long-standing predicament of people in the mountain areas being unable to escape poverty.
3. 一篇有力的澄清声明及时扭转了公众对该企业的负面印象，为公司挽回了大量消费者的信任。 A strong clarification statement turned around the public’s negative impression of the company in time and helped win back a great deal of consumer trust.

Usage Guide

Context: politics, business, sports, strategy

Tone: decisive

Do Say

• 在全球经济下行压力持续加大的背景下，企业唯有通过技术创新和产业升级，才能有效扭转利润下滑的被动局面。(Against the backdrop of mounting global economic downward pressure, enterprises can only effectively reverse the passive situation of declining profits through technological innovation and industrial upgrading.)
• 这名年轻运动员凭借顽强的意志力在比赛最后阶段扭转了劣势，以惊险的优势夺得了本届锦标赛的冠军。(This young athlete, through sheer willpower, reversed the disadvantage in the final stage of the competition and clinched the championship of this tournament by a narrow margin.)

Don't Say

• 将'扭转'用于中性的方向改变 — 扭转 implies actively reversing an unfavourable situation or trend; for neutral change of direction, use 改变方向, 转变, or 调整 instead

Origin & History

扭 (to twist/turn) + 转 (to revolve/change direction) — to twist and turn something around

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal