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Suffix · forms adjectives

-turned

Judges how well-crafted a phrase or sentence is: well-turned (elegantly phrased) versus ill-turned (clumsily phrased).

In Spanish: elaborado / forjado / torneadoLiterary

Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated August 2026

What this suffix does

-turned forms compound adjectives that describe the quality of shaping — both physical (a well-turned piece of woodwork on a lathe) and linguistic (a well-turned phrase, a well-turned compliment). In literary and critical writing, "well-turned" is primarily used of linguistic production: a well-turned phrase is one that has been crafted with skill, whose word order and rhythm are exactly right, whose surprise or elegance is the result of deliberate and precise crafting. "Ill-turned" or "poorly-turned" implies clumsy or infelicitous phrasing. These compounds belong to the vocabulary of literary craft.

How it is formed

Adverb + turned.

  • well + turned
    well-turned (elegantly phrased: a well-turned phrase)
  • nicely + turned
    nicely-turned
  • ill + turned
    ill-turned (clumsily phrased)

This is not a productive rule you can apply freely: it is a closed set of fixed expressions. Learn them one by one as set phrases.

How it is pronounced

-turned

Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.

Examples

Base word
With -turned
In a phrase
  • wellwell-turnedThe speech had a few well-turned phrases everyone remembered.
  • illill-turnedHis ill-turned comment made things awkward.
  • nicelynicely-turnedIt was a nicely-turned compliment.
  • finelyfinely-turnedThe essay has some finely-turned sentences.
  • perfectlyperfectly-turnedShe gave a perfectly-turned answer to a tricky question.

Common mistakes

well-turned only applies to language
well-turned applies to language, but also to any shaped object and to physical features

"Well-turned" has several distinct applications: (1) of language: a well-turned phrase, compliment, argument — one crafted with skill and precision; (2) of woodwork or metalwork: a well-turned object shaped on a lathe with precision and elegance; (3) of physical features, especially in older literary usage: a well-turned ankle, a well-turned calf — meaning elegantly shaped. Context determines which application is in use.

"ill-turned" = angry or hostile
"ill-turned" = phrased clumsily or infelicitously; not well-crafted in expression

"Ill-turned" describes the quality of linguistic production, not emotional state. An ill-turned remark is one that was phrased badly — the words were the wrong ones, or their arrangement was infelicitous. It has nothing to do with hostility or anger — only with the craft (or lack of craft) of the expression.

A trick to remember it

"Well-turned" is the classical description of good prose style at the level of the individual sentence or phrase. In the tradition of rhetoric, a "well-turned period" was the classical unit of fine writing — a sentence whose structure, rhythm, and vocabulary all combined to produce exactly the right effect with apparent ease. The "turning" metaphor comes from the lathe: a well-turned piece of wood or metal is shaped by precise rotation under a cutting tool, producing smooth curves and exact dimensions. The metaphor applies to language with equal precision.

Practise what you learned

Exercise 1 · Form the word

Fill in: "Her ___ summary of the argument silenced the room — in three sentences she had made the case better than anyone had in the hour before." (crafted with skill and precision; achieving exactly the right effect through deliberate phrasing)

Hint: Well + turned = crafted with precision; formed exactly right through skilled working.

Exercise 2 · Pick the right one

"The ill-turned compliment achieved precisely the opposite of what he had intended." What does "ill-turned" mean here?

Exercise 3 · Form the word

Fill in: "The ___ phrase at the end of the letter was what saved the entire document from its otherwise awkward register." (crafted with a refined elegance; shaped to a fine and precise degree)

Hint: Finely + turned = shaped to a fine degree; crafted with refined precision.

Frequently asked questions

What does the suffix -turned mean in English?

The suffix -turned judges how well-crafted a phrase or sentence is: well-turned (elegantly phrased) versus ill-turned (clumsily phrased). In Spanish it usually maps to elaborado / forjado / torneado.

Can you give an example of a word with -turned?

"well" becomes "well-turned". It is a typical example of the -turned suffix.

Other useful suffixes

  • -natured

    Describes someone's underlying character: good-natured (kind, easygoing) versus ill-natured (bad-tempered).

  • -spoken

    Describes someone's tone or style of speaking: soft-spoken (speaking gently) and outspoken (speaking one's mind bluntly).

  • -wrought

    Means "worked" or "crafted", literal or emotional: hand-wrought (crafted by hand) and overwrought (overly excited, on edge).

Learn every English suffix

-tion, -ness, -ful, -ly, -able... every ending you need to understand thousands of words at once.

View all suffixes
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