inversion

plural inversions

1. countableuncountableThe action of inverting.
2. countableuncountableThe act of being in an inverted state; being upside down, inside out, or in a reverse sequence.
3. countableuncountableentertainmentThe reversal of an interval; the move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.
4. countableuncountableentertainmentThe position of a chord which has a note other than the root as its bass note.
5. countableuncountableentertainmentThe flipping of a melody or contrapuntal line so that high notes become low and vice versa; the reversal of a pitch contour.
6. countableuncountablebiologyA segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is reversed in orientation relative to a reference karyotype or genome.
7. countableuncountableclimatologyA situation where air temperature increases with altitude (the ground being colder than the surrounding air).

   Synonyms: temperature inversion

8. countableuncountableA section of a roller coaster where passengers are temporarily turned upside down.
9. countableuncountablegrammarDeviation 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.

   Question formation involves the phenomenon commonly known as subject-auxiliary inversion, a change in word order in which the auxiliary moves in front of the subject.

   2007/08, abergs, “INFL-to-COMP movement”, in English Language and Linguistics Online, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2018

   Synonyms: anastrophe, hyperbaton

10. countableuncountablealgebraAn operation on a group, analogous to negation.
11. countableobsoleteuncountablehuman sciencesHomosexuality, particularly in early psychoanalysis.

    We can seldom, therefore, congratulate ourselves on the success of any "cure" of inversion.

    1897, W. Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion, page 202

    2 more examples

    Equal relationships can only exist between equals. Inversion is the most positive identity possible in the situation as it is now.

    1971, Jude, “Destruction of "Sexual Duality"”, in Body Politic, number 1, page 3

    My father, León Fuertes, was a fag three years; […] He put on all the trappings of inversion: the twittered mouthings, the hyper-feminine moues, the languid mincings.

    1975, R. M. Koster, The Dissertation, page 118

12. countableuncountablebiochemistryThe catalytic action of invertase.