ə̇nˈvər]zhən, -və̄], -vəi] also ]shən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin inversion-, inversio, from inversus (past participle of invertere to invert) + -ion-, -io -ion — more at invert
1. : an act or result of turning inside out or upside down : flexure , doubling : as
a. : a folding back of rock strata upon themselves by which their sequence seems reversed
b. : a dislocation of a bodily organ in which it is turned partially or wholly inside out
inversion of the uterus
c. : a condition of being turned inward
inversion of the foot
d. : retroflexion 3
2. : a reversal of position, order, or relationship: as
a. : the reverse of an established pattern
the structure of an insect … is an almost complete inversion of what prevails in a vertebrate animal — A.D.Imms
so strange an inversion of the paternal and filial relations as this proposition of his son to pay him a hundred pounds — George Eliot
b.
(1) : inverted order
(2) : anastrophe
c. : a change of cadence by the introduction in a metrical series of a foot in which arsis and thesis have positions symmetrically opposed to the positions they have in the normal especially adjacent feet of the series : shift of cadence from rising to falling or from falling to rising — compare substitution
d.
(1) of an interval : a raising of the lower or dropping of the upper tone by an octave
(2) of a triad or seventh chord : a transposition of the root to some voice other than the bass
(3) of a melody : a repetition of a phrase or subject (as of a fugue) with each ascending interval inverted into a corresponding descending interval and vice versa
(4) in double counterpoint : a transposition of an upper and a lower voice part
(5) : a transferring of a pedal point from the bass to an upper part
e. logic : the operation of immediate inference which gives an inverse proposition — see inverse III 2
f.
(1) : a breaking off of a chromosome section and its subsequent reattachment in reversed position
(2) : such a chromosome section
3.
a. : a change in the order of the terms of a mathematical proportion effected by inverting each ratio
b. : the operation of inverting or forming the inverse either of a magnitude or of an operation
c. : a change from the order in which elements or parcels of objects are arranged naturally or normally
4. : homosexuality
5.
a. : a conversion of a substance showing dextrorotation into one showing levorotation or vice versa
the inversion of sucrose involves hydrolysis of a dextrorotatory material to an equimolar mixture of d -glucose and d -fructose that is levorotatory
b. : a substitution of one of the groups attached to the asymmetric atom of an optically active organic molecule so that an original clockwise arrangement of atoms or groups becomes counterclockwise
c. : a change of a crystalline substance from one polymorphic form into another
6. : a conversion of direct current into alternating current
7. : a reversal of normal atmospheric temperature gradient : increase of temperature of the air with increasing altitude