turn down — reduce volume or heat
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to make something, like the sound or heat, lower or less strong.
Say it like a native
Textbook Please decrease the volume of the television.
Native Can you turn the telly down a bit?
'Turn down' is the everyday verb for lowering volume/heat; 'decrease the volume' is manual-speak.
Pattern: turn down + noun/pronoun
In use
- Could you turn down the music? It's too loud.daily life
- When I study, I always turn down the volume on my phone so I can concentrate better.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ Can you turn down it?
✓ Can you turn it down?
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'turn it down'.
Common collocations
turn down + level— the volume, the heating, the music, the lights
Don't confuse it
Different from 'turn off,' which means to stop something completely.
Related
- turn down (reject) — Another meaning of 'turn down' is 'reject'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.