noun
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the act or an instance of reversing
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a change for the worse; reverse
a reversal of fortune
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the state of being reversed
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the annulment of a judicial decision, esp by an appeal court on grounds of error or irregularity
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of reversal
Explanation
A reversal is a change of decision or direction, often to the opposite. You liked history, but thought you'd major in business because there were more jobs. Then you took an economics class and hated it. So in a reversal, you majored in history after all. In legal terms, a reversal is when a high court decides the decision of a lower court is incorrect and should be overturned. In a reversal, the Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict of the lower court, and the prisoner was set free. A setback or a change in circumstances for the worse is also a reversal. If you make poor investments, you may suffer a reversal in fortune and go from shopping for designer clothes to shopping at thrift stores.
Vocabulary lists containing reversal
Novel Study: Of Mice and Men, Chapters 1–3
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Literary Element: The Speech & Analyze Literature
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -al, -ial
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“This award represents a near-complete reversal of Boeing’s defense trajectory,” aerospace and defense analysts at RBC Capital Markets, led by Ken Herbert, wrote in a Tuesday note.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
"People forget he was my carer, so it's role reversal, although I'm not really looking after him. I'm just trying to keep his spirits up."
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Abrams plays the goofball well and we’re constantly rooting for him, even as his fortunes take a turn in a tragic reversal that we’ve seen in monster movies before.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Researchers do not yet know whether these changes in biomarker profiles will persist over time or lead to sustained biological age reversal.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 16, 2026
I opened my pack, rooted through the contents, and then looked up with that confounded expression that comes with the discovery of a reversal.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
You do know reversals are expensive and aren't always successful?
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
There have been six preceding momentum reversals where the momentum index underperformed the broader index by 10 percentage points or more.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Plus, Republicans are fretting over Trump’s latest policy reversals, and how the World Cup became an unexpected triumph for America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Bringing the constraints of cultural anthropology back into biomolecular analysis allows other reversals to emerge.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
Obviously, that is no more than an average long-term trend, with innumerable shifts in either direction: 1,000 amalgamations for 999 reversals.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
