inversion
inversion Lexical Profile
inversion Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The action of turning something upside down, inside out, or reversing its normal position, order, or arrangement.
"The artist used a clever inversion of light and shadow to create an unsettling mood."
In grammar and rhetoric, the reversal of the normal order of words in a sentence, such as placing the verb before the subject for emphasis or to form a question.
"Poets frequently employ syntactic inversion to maintain a strict meter and rhyme scheme."
In meteorology, an atmospheric condition in which temperature increases with altitude rather than decreasing, often trapping cool air and pollutants near the ground.
"A winter temperature inversion trapped a thick layer of smog over the valley for three days."
In music, the rearrangement of the notes of a chord, interval, or melody so that the lowest note is moved to a higher octave, or a melody is turned upside down by reversing its intervals.
"Playing the triad in its first inversion creates a smoother bass line transition."
In genetics, a chromosome rearrangement in which a segment of a chromosome is reversed end to end.
"Genetic screening revealed a minor chromosomal inversion that caused no noticeable health effects."
• Rhymes for inversion
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-16th century from Middle French inversion or directly from Latin inversiōnem, a noun of action from the past participle stem of invertere ('to turn upside down or inside out'), formed from in- ('in, upon') and vertere ('to turn').