ˈturning-pointn.
1. lit. A point at which something turns, or changes its direction of motion, etc.; spec. a maximum or minimum point on a graph, where it begins to tend downwards or upwards.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > change of direction of movement > [noun] > point at which
angle1740
turning-point1856
turnaround1959
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine xii. 400 Near what may be called the turning-point of its course, where its spacious stream is diverted..by the chain of Amanus.
1956 Railway Mag. Mar. 165/2 Katrane..is the only turning point (a triangle) for engines between Amman and Ma'an.
1977 Wandsworth Borough News 16 Sept. 9/3 London Transport should be asked to stop using Medfield-street as a turning-point for their buses.
2. fig. A point at which a decisive change of any kind takes place; a critical point, crisis. (The usual sense.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > [noun] > critical or decisive moment
articlea1398
prick?c1422
crise?1541
push1563
in the nick1565
jump1598
concurrence1605
cardo1609
(the) nick of time (also occasionally opportunity, etc.)1610
edgea1616
climacterical1628
climacteric1633
in the nick-time1650
moment1666
turning-point1836
watershed1854
psychological moment1871
psychical moment1888
moment of truth1932
crunch1939
cruncher1947
high noon1955
break point1959
defining moment1967
midnight1976
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > that which is important > essential or central > upon which something depends
harrec1000
pina1538
key1559
pinch1581
axle-treec1600
axlea1634
fulcrum1668
keystone1722
pivot1748
turning-point1836
landmark1859
axis1860
linchpin1954
1836 J. Keble Wks. R. Hooker I. p. li In the annals of the Church,..we may from time to time mark out what may be called turning points.
1851 J. Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 86 I believe these young artists to be..at a turning-point, from which they may either sink into nothingness or rise to very real greatness.
1874 J. H. Parker Introd. Study Gothic Archit. (ed. 4) i. iii. 92 At this principal turning-point in the history of architecture.
1885 Athenæum 23 May 669/1 The turning-point from summer to autumnal weather.
1887 J. C. Morison Service of Man 8 One of those turning-points in the evolution of thought which mark the close of an old epoch.
3. Surveying. A subsidiary bench-mark whose height above datum is determined during the operation of finding, by differential levelling, the difference of level of two permanent bench-marks.So called because the graduated staff on which the height is read off is at this point turned round so as to be read from the permanent (or the next subsidiary) bench-mark.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > surveying > [noun] > surveyor's marks
corner1699
benchmark1826
turning-point1891
1891 in Cent. Dict.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1836