by turns

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By turns hangdog and defiant, this version of JFK Jr. is a little boy lost, positioned as a victim of his name and his mother’s expectations — on top of the unsuitable girlfriends, she doesn’t think much of his decision to leave law and start a magazine.

From Los Angeles Times

Yet there emerges a quality by turns bruising and sweet in the depiction of this relationship, Mr. Melling fragile, devoted and desperate for affection until he explodes, Mr. Skarsgård reservedly beautiful but never blank.

From The Wall Street Journal

The baby laughed and wept by turns, and almost never slept.

From Literature

Politically, Cerf was liberal but pragmatic, by turns “shrewd” and “credulous,” according to Ms. Feldman.

From The Wall Street Journal

By turns funny and self-pitying, full of regrets, disappointments and thwarted ambitions, Hart is portrayed by Hawke as a man who has often been his own biggest obstacle and is coming to realize his time has passed him by.

From Los Angeles Times