inversion
nounUS /ɪnˈvɚ.ʒən/ · UK /ɪnˈvɜː.ʃən/
Etymology From Latin inversiōnem.
12 senses
- 1The action of inverting.
- 2The act of being in an inverted state; being upside…
- 3The reversal of an interval; the move of one pitch in an…
- 4The position of a chord which has a note other than the…
- 5The flipping of a melody or contrapuntal line so that…
- 6A segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is…
- 7A situation where air temperature increases with…
- 8A section of a roller coaster where passengers are…
- 9Deviation from standard word order, as for example by…
- 10An operation on a group, analogous to negation.
- 11Homosexuality, particularly in early psychoanalysis.
- 12The catalytic action of invertase.
The action of inverting.
The act of being in an inverted state; being upside down, inside out, or in a reverse sequence.
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The reversal of an interval; the move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The position of a chord which has a note other than the root as its bass note.
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The flipping of a melody or contrapuntal line so that high notes become low and vice versa; the reversal of a pitch contour.
Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences A situation where air temperature increases with altitude (the ground being colder than the surrounding air).
A section of a roller coaster where passengers are temporarily turned upside down.
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Deviation from standard word order, as for example by putting the predicate before the subject. It takes place in questions with auxiliary verbs; in normal, affirmative clauses beginning with a negative particle, for the purpose of emphasis; and in other rhetorical devices or unusual situations.
- Question formation involves the phenomenon commonly known as subject-auxiliary inversion, a change in word order in which the auxiliary moves in front of the subject.2007/08, abergs, “INFL-to-COMP movement”, in English Language and Linguistics Online, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2018:
Algebra, Mathematics, Sciences An operation on a group, analogous to negation.
Human sciences, Psychology, Sciences Obsolete Homosexuality, particularly in early psychoanalysis.
- We can seldom, therefore, congratulate ourselves on the success of any "cure" of inversion.1897, W. Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion, page 202:
- Equal relationships can only exist between equals. Inversion is the most positive identity possible in the situation as it is now.1971, Jude, “Destruction of "Sexual Duality"”, in Body Politic, number 1, page 3:
1 more example
- My father, León Fuertes, was a fag three years; […] He put on all the trappings of inversion: the twittered mouthings, the hyper-feminine moues, the languid mincings.1975, R. M. Koster, The Dissertation, page 118:
Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Natural sciences, Physical sciences The catalytic action of invertase.
- Derived terms
32 terms
circle inversion, coinversion, dependency inversion principle, first inversion, inversional, inversion illusion, inversionism, inversionist, inversionless, inversion of control, inversion pair, inversion table, inversion therapy, island of inversion, microinversion, nitrogen inversion, noninversion, paracentric inversion, penile inversion, pericentric inversion, population inversion, pseudoinversion, reinversion, retrograde inversion, rotoinversion, second inversion, sexual inversion, stereoinversion, temperature inversion, third inversion, uninversion, Walden inversion- Related terms
- twelve tone technique, serialism