Meaning of 'inversion' (Webster Dictionary)
- The act of inverting, or turning over or backward, or
the state of being inverted.
- A change by inverted order; a reversed position or
arrangement of things; transposition.
- A movement in tactics by which the order of companies in
line is inverted, the right being on the left, the left on the right,
and so on.
- A change in the order of the terms of a proportion, so
that the second takes the place of the first, and the fourth of the
third.
- A peculiar method of transformation, in which a figure
is replaced by its inverse figure. Propositions that are true for the
original figure thus furnish new propositions that are true in the
inverse figure. See Inverse figures, under Inverse.
- A change of the usual order of words or phrases; as, "of
all vices, impurity is one of the most detestable," instead of,
"impurity is one of the most detestable of all vices."
- A method of reasoning in which the orator shows that
arguments advanced by his adversary in opposition to him are really
favorable to his cause.
- Said of intervals, when the lower tone is placed an
octave higher, so that fifths become fourths, thirds sixths, etc.
- Said of a chord, when one of its notes, other than its
root, is made the bass.
- Said of a subject, or phrase, when the intervals of
which it consists are repeated in the contrary direction, rising
instead of falling, or vice versa.
- Said of double counterpoint, when an upper and a lower
part change places.
- The folding back of strata upon themselves, as by
upheaval, in such a manner that the order of succession appears to be
reversed.
- The act or process by which cane sugar (sucrose), under
the action of heat and acids or ferments (as diastase), is broken or
split up into grape sugar (dextrose), and fruit sugar (levulose); also,
less properly, the process by which starch is converted into grape
sugar (dextrose).
Definition
[ n.]