Meaning of inversion in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Noun
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /ɪnˈvərʒən/

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  1. Noun

    inversion

    Etymology

    mid 16th century (as a term in rhetoric, denoting the turning of an argument against the person who put it forward): from Latin inversio(n-), from the verb invertere (see invert)

    Definitions

    1. the layer of air near the earth is cooler than an overlying layer
  2. 2. abnormal condition in which an organ is turned inward or inside out (as when the upper part of the uterus is pulled into the cervical canal after childbirth)
  3. 3. a chemical process in which the direction of optical rotation of a substance is reversed from dextrorotatory to levorotary or vice versa
  4. 4. (genetics) a kind of mutation in which the order of the genes in a section of a chromosome is reversed
  5. 5. the reversal of the normal order of words
  6. 6. (counterpoint) a variation of a melody or part in which ll ascending intervals are replaced by descending intervals and vice versa
  7. 7. a term formerly used to mean taking on the gender role of the opposite sex
  8. 8. turning upside down

    Examples

    • « setting on end »

    Derived terms

  9. 9. the act of turning inside out

    Derived terms

Famous quotes

  • « The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion. »
    Blaise Pascal
  • « We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. »
    Ayn Rand

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