invert

[verb in-vurt; adjective, noun in-vurt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR invert ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to turn upside down.

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

to turn or change to the opposite or contrary, as in nature, bearing, or effect: to invert a process.

to turn inward or back upon itself.

to turn inside out.

Chemistry. to subject to inversion.

Music. to subject to musical inversion.

Phonetics. to articulate as a retroflex vowel.

verb (used without object)

Chemistry. to become inverted.

adjective

Chemistry. subjected to inversion.

noun

a person or thing that is inverted.

a homosexual.

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

an inverted arch or vault.

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

Origin of invert

1525–35; < Latin invertere to turn upside down or inside out, equivalent to in- in-² + vertere to turn; see verse

Related formsin·vert·i·ble, adjectivein·vert·i·bil·i·ty, nounnon·in·vert·ed, adjectiveun·in·vert·ed, adjectiveun·in·vert·i·ble, adjective

Synonym study

2. See reverse.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for inverted

upturned, disordered, reversed, upset, confused, tangled, overturned, jumbled, upended, backward, haywire, helter-skelter, mixed-up, topsy-turvy

Examples from the Web for inverted

Contemporary Examples of inverted

The flier itself shows an inverted Islamic State flag, with Arabic script below it.
ISIS Fliers on a Marine Corps Base?
Tim Mak
October 31, 2014
The painting is mostly a bone-colored affair, as the background overwhelms the inverted spiral of the levels of Hell.
Fact-Checking Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’: 10 Mistakes, False Statements, and Oversimplifications
Noah Charney
May 20, 2013
This inverted morality creates maniacs whose antics are referenced with a smile and a wink, not a harrumph.
Cavalcade of Bad Boy Flameouts
Eric Dezenhall
March 4, 2011

Historical Examples of inverted

After you turn them out, spread them on an inverted sieve to cool.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
What an anomaly in political architecture, to build an inverted pyramid!
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
In a concave mirror the top and bottom are inverted, but this is no transposition.
Timaeus
Plato
A disregarded doll lay with inverted head on the counterpane.
The Manxman
Hall Caine
They have read the fable of the sun and the wind backwards, and inverted the moral.
Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume II.
Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for inverted

invert

verb (ɪnˈvɜːt)

to turn or cause to turn upside down or inside out

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

(tr) phonetics

to turn (the tip of the tongue) up and back
to pronounce (a speech sound) by retroflexion

logic to form the inverse of a categorial proposition

noun (ˈɪnvɜːt)

psychiatry

a person who adopts the role of the opposite sex
another word for homosexual

architect

the lower inner surface of a drain, sewer, etcCompare soffit (def. 2)
an arch that is concave upwards, esp one used in foundations

Derived Formsinvertible, adjectiveinvertibility, noun

Word Origin for invert

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

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

Word Origin and History for inverted

invert

1530s, from Middle French invertir or directly from Latin invertere "turn upside down, turn about," from in- "in, on" (see in- (2)) + vertere "to turn" (see versus). Related: Inverted; inverting; invertedly.

inverted in Medicine

invert

[ĭn-vûrt′]

v.

To turn inside out or upside down.

To reverse the position, order, or condition of.

To subject to inversion.

n.

Something inverted.