inverse
reversed in position, order, direction, or tendency.
Mathematics.
(of a proportion) containing terms of which an increase in one results in a decrease in another. A term is said to be in inverse proportion to another term if it increases (or decreases) as the other decreases (or increases).
of or relating to an inverse function.: Compare direct (def. 16).
inverted; turned upside down.
an inverted state or condition.
something that is inverse; the direct opposite.
Mathematics.
an element of an algebraic system, as a group, corresponding to a given element such that its product or sum with the given element is the identity element.
a point related to a given point so that it is situated on the same radius, extended if necessary, of a given circle or sphere and so that the product of the distances of the two points from the center equals the square of the radius of the circle or sphere.
the set of such inverses of the points of a given set, as the points on a curve.
Origin of inverse
1Words that may be confused with inverse
Words Nearby inverse
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use inverse in a sentence
Both of these can be greater when you’re alone—although, ironically, they’re often at inverse levels.
For Magneto, it’s that mutants are superior to humans and should eliminate them before the inverse happens.
The MCU Has a Longstanding Villain Problem. Loki’s Introduction of Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror Might Just Solve It | Eliana Dockterman | July 16, 2021 | TimeIn the third century BCE, the philosopher Aristotle described the female body as the inverse of the male body, with its genitalia “turn’d outside in.”
Medical Myths About Gender Roles Go Back to Ancient Greece. Women Are Still Paying the Price Today | Elinor Cleghorn | June 17, 2021 | TimeFinding the pair required a complex computer search, but verifying that they really are inverses is well within the realm of human computation.
Mathematician Disproves 80-Year-Old Algebra Conjecture | Erica Klarreich | April 12, 2021 | Quanta MagazineNow Gardam has turned up a pair of multiplicative inverses with 21 terms each within a group algebra built from the Hantzsche-Wendt group.
Mathematician Disproves 80-Year-Old Algebra Conjecture | Erica Klarreich | April 12, 2021 | Quanta Magazine
Somehow, the brevity of the message creates an inverse potential for misunderstanding.
This is an inverse Pietà, and something of a sexual anarchist; she ardently refuses to be oriented in an orientation.
The meme is the inverse of Harvey Milk: you gotta take away all their hope.
D.C. Needs a Grassroots Fix That Will Come When Left and Right Find Common Ground | Lawrence Lessig | February 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThere is an inverse correlation at play: the nicer a man appears, the greater his cruelty behind closed doors.
American Dreams, 1963: ‘The Group’ by Mary McCarthy | Nathaniel Rich | July 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTWhatever the answer, the inverse desire for unlikable characters—truly despicable ones—is interesting.
Now recall the series in an inverse order, beginning with “Fieldhand,” and going back to “Building.”
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)The first cost of these engines was probably in inverse proportion to their power.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2) | Francis TrevithickThe pressure of darkness acts in inverse proportion upon different kinds of natures.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoWe shall, then, in a separate chapter, examine and endeavour to characterize the inverse process.
A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive | John Stuart MillAnd as will be shown presently, nothing of a really scientific character is here possible, except by the inverse deductive method.
A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive | John Stuart Mill
British Dictionary definitions for inverse
/ (ɪnˈvɜːs, ˈɪnvɜːs) /
opposite or contrary in effect, sequence, direction, etc
maths
(of a relationship) containing two variables such that an increase in one results in a decrease in the other: the volume of a gas is in inverse ratio to its pressure
(of an element) operating on a specified member of a set to produce the identity of the set: the additive inverse element of x is –x, the multiplicative inverse element of x is 1/x
(usually prenominal) upside-down; inverted: in an inverse position
maths
another name for reciprocal (def. 7)
an inverse element
logic a categorial proposition derived from another by changing both the proposition and its subject from affirmative to negative, or vice versa, as all immortals are angels from no mortals are angels
Origin of inverse
1Derived forms of inverse
- inversely, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for inverse
Relating to a mathematical operation whose nature or effect is the opposite of another operation. For example, addition and subtraction are inverse operations, as are multiplication and division.
An inverse operation. Subtraction is the inverse of addition.
Either of a pair of elements in a set whose result under the mathematical operation of the set is the identity element. For example, the inverse of 5 under multiplication is 15, since 5 X 15 = 1, the identity element under multiplication. The inverse of 5 under addition is -5, since 5 + -5 = 0.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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