- (n.) A change of the usual order of words or phrases; as, "of all vices, impurity is one of the most detestable," instead of, "impurity is one of the most detestable of all vices.".
- (n.) The act of inverting or turning over or backward or the state of being inverted.
- (n.) Said of intervals, when the lower tone is placed an octave higher, so that fifths become fourths, thirds sixths, etc.
- (n.) A method of reasoning in which the orator shows that arguments advanced by his adversary in opposition to him are really favorable to his cause.
- (n.) Said of a subject or phrase, when the intervals of which it consists are repeated in the contrary direction, rising instead of falling or vice versa.
- (n.) The act or process by which cane sugar (sucrose), under the action of heat and acids or ferments (as diastase), is broken or split up into grape sugar (dextrose), and fruit sugar (levulose); also, less properly, the process by which starch is converted into grape sugar (dextrose).
- (n.) A change by inverted order; a reversed position or arrangement of things; transposition.
- (n.) Said of a chord, when one of its notes, other than its root, is made the bass.
- (n.) A movement in tactics by which the order of companies in line is inverted, the right being on the left, the left on the right, and so on.
- (n.) A peculiar method of transformation, in which a figure is replaced by its inverse figure. Propositions that are true for the original figure thus furnish new propositions that are true in the inverse figure. See Inverse figures, under Inverse.
- (n.) Said of double counterpoint, when an upper and a lower part change places.
- (n.) A change in the order of the terms of a proportion, so that the second takes the place of the first, and the fourth of the third.
- (n.) The folding back of strata upon themselves, as by upheaval, in such a manner that the order of succession appears to be reversed.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). inversion. Retrieved September 21, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/inversion/definitions/2023432 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "inversion" http://smartdefine.org/inversion/definitions/2023432 (accessed September 21, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, inversion, Smart Define, viewed 21 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/inversion/definitions/2023432>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "inversion" 27 May 2011. Web. 21 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/inversion/definitions/2023432> |