inversion

Meanings

Plural: inversions

Noun

• the layer of air near the earth is cooler than an overlying layer
• abnormal condition in which an organ is turned inward or inside out (as when the upper part of the uterus is pulled into the cervical canal after childbirth)
• a chemical process in which the direction of optical rotation of a substance is reversed from dextrorotatory to levorotary or vice versa
• (genetics) a kind of mutation in which the order of the genes in a section of a chromosome is reversed
• the reversal of the normal order of words
• (counterpoint) a variation of a melody or part in which ascending intervals are replaced by descending intervals and vice versa
• a term formerly used to mean taking on the gender role of the opposite sex
• turning upside down; setting on end
• the act of turning inside out
• The action of inverting.
• The act of being in an inverted state; being upside down, inside out, or in a reverse sequence.
• The reversal of an interval; the move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.
• The position of a chord which has a note other than the root as its bass note.
• The flipping of a melody or contrapuntal line so that high notes become low and vice versa; the reversal of a pitch contour.
• A segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is reversed in orientation relative to a reference karyotype or genome.
• A situation where air temperature increases with altitude (the ground being colder than the surrounding air).
• A section of a roller coaster where passengers are temporarily turned upside down.
• Deviation from standard word order, as for example by putting the predicate before the subject. It takes place in questions with auxiliary verbs; in normal, affirmative clauses beginning with a negative particle, for the purpose of emphasis; and in other rhetorical devices or unusual situations.
• An operation on a group, analogous to negation.
• Homosexuality, particularly in early psychoanalysis.
• The catalytic action of invertase.

Synonyms

anastrophe, eversion, everting, hyperbaton, sexual inversion, temperature inversion, upending

Related Words

serialism, twelve tone technique