invert

[in-vurt, in-vurt]

verb (used with object)

1. to turn upside down.

2. to reverse in position, order, direction, or relationship.

3. to turn or change to the opposite or contrary, as in nature, bearing, or effect.

   to invert a process.

4. to turn inward or back upon itself.

5. to turn inside out.

6. Chemistry.,  to subject to a reaction in which a starting material of one optical configuration forms a product of the opposite configuration.

7. Music.,  to subject to musical inversion, the transposition between the upper voice part and the lower.

8. Phonetics.,  to articulate as a retroflex vowel.

verb (used without object)

1. Chemistry.,  to undergo a reaction in which a starting material of one optical configuration forms a product of the opposite configuration.

adjective

1. Chemistry.,  subjected to a reaction in which a starting material of one optical configuration forms a product of the opposite configuration.

noun

1. a person or thing that is reversed in position, changed to the contrary, or turned upside down, inside out, or inward.

2. (in plumbing) that portion of the interior of a drain or sewer pipe where the liquid is deepest.

3. a U-shaped arch or vault, having the opposite vertical orientation compared to a traditional arch or vault.

4. Philately.,  a two-colored postage stamp with all or part of the central design printed upside down in relation to the inscription.

5. Psychiatry.,  (no longer in technical use)

   1. a gay person.

   2. a person whose behavior is considered nonnormative for their assigned sex, historically involving both gender non-conforming or transgender expression and gay or lesbian sexual orientation.

6. Disparaging and Offensive.,  anyone whose sexuality or gender expression is regarded as strange or unnatural, especially a gay or transgender person.

7. Informal.,  (especially among aquarists) invertebrate.

   My invert tank is mostly sea slugs, but I bought a couple of shrimp recently also.

invert

verb

1. to turn or cause to turn upside down or inside out

2. (tr) to reverse in effect, sequence, direction, etc

3. (tr) phonetics

   1. to turn (the tip of the tongue) up and back

   2. to pronounce (a speech sound) by retroflexion

4. logic to form the inverse of a categorial proposition

noun

1. psychiatry

   1. a person who adopts the role of the opposite sex

   2. another word for homosexual

2. architect

   1. the lower inner surface of a drain, sewer, etc Compare soffit

   2. an arch that is concave upwards, esp one used in foundations

Other Word Forms

• invertible adjective
• noninverted adjective
• uninverted adjective
• invertibility noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of invert¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin invertere “to turn upside down or inside out,” equivalent to in- “in” + vertere “to turn”; in- ², verse

Word History and Origins

Origin of invert¹

C16: from Latin invertere, from _in- ² + vertere to turn

Synonym Study

See reverse.

Example Sentences

The one was inverted and the two zeros here were running concurrently instead of consecutively.

Read more on Literature

Sotheby’s has moved into Marcel Breuer’s 1966 modernist landmark that looks like an inverted ziggurat and once famously housed the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"It's remarkable that this process actually produces new chimeric proteins, specifically from the inverted DNA -- most of the time when you change DNA, you just get genetic mutations leading to inactive proteins," Wood said.

Read more on Science Daily

But if the inverted ordering proves correct, this research suggests neutrinos could indeed violate CP symmetry, offering a powerful clue to why matter exists.

Read more on Science Daily

It was time to invert one of the most fundamental shots in the sport.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal