star turn
noun
1
a
: a performance, role, or appearance (as in a movie or television show) that is done by a star or well-known personality
… we might see a Best Actress nod for Jane Horrock's nuanced portrayal in Life Is Sweet instead of Bette Midler's star turn in For the Boys …—
Peter Travers
Peter TraversSlater … delivers a surprisingly effective performance in this otherwise muddled thriller made before his attention-grabbing star turn in Heathers.—Ed Hulse
Ed Hulse… she would surely dump the bother of serving as Alaska's besieged governor for a lucrative star turn on Fox News.—Frank Rich
Frank Rich
b
: an outstanding performance or prominent role in or contribution to something
The fresh, soft, white Italian cheese called mascarpone is most famous for its star turn in tiramisu …—Jane Daniels Lear
Jane Daniels LearThe football gods would return the favor early in the fourth quarter on a strangely similar play that bounced Indy's way, with center Jeff Saturday getting the star turn.—Michael Silver
Michael Silver2
chiefly British
: the featured skit or number in a theatrical production
also
: the most outstanding or prominent person or thing in a group
The star turn of a recent lunch in the plant-filled conservatory was a Goan curry—chunks of succulent chicken breast in a sauce the color of pesto, made with green chilies and coriander. —R. W. Apple, Jr.
R. W. Apple, Jr. Examples of star turn in a Sentence
She was nominated for an Oscar for her star turn as a single mother raising three children alone.
She was the star turn in yesterday's game.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ricky has another star turn in the film’s final scene, opposite an objectively much less iconic Matt Damon.
—Tom Smyth, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2024
Episodes 1–4 Dan Schneider latched onto Amanda Bynes, whose star turn on The Amanda Show helped launch his career.
—Zoe Guy, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2024
The feeling is of collective excellence more than star turns.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 28 Mar. 2024
The diplomat George Kennan and other Cold War realists put in star turns at the helm of the new American leviathan, but the connections between their thought and, say, John Cage’s classical compositions can be hard to trace.
—Beverly Gage, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2021
See all Example Sentences for star turn 
Tom Smyth, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2024
Episodes 1–4 Dan Schneider latched onto Amanda Bynes, whose star turn on The Amanda Show helped launch his career.
—Zoe Guy, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2024
The feeling is of collective excellence more than star turns.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 28 Mar. 2024
The diplomat George Kennan and other Cold War realists put in star turns at the helm of the new American leviathan, but the connections between their thought and, say, John Cage’s classical compositions can be hard to trace.
—Beverly Gage, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2021
See all Example Sentences for star turn
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'star turn.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Star turn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/star%20turn. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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