Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Inversion
1.
The act of inverting, or turning over or backward, or the state of being inverted.
2.
A change by inverted order; a reversed position or arrangement of things; transposition.
It is just the
inversion
of an act of Parliament; your lordship first signed it, and then it was passed among the Lords and Commons. Dryden.
3.
(Mil.)
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.
4.
(Math.)
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.
5.
(Geom.)
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
. 6.
(Gram.)
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.”
7.
(Rhet.)
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.
8.
(Mus.)
(a)
Said of intervals, when the lower tone is placed an octave higher, so that fifths become fourths, thirds sixths, etc.
(b)
Said of a chord, when one of its notes, other than its root, is made the bass.
(c)
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.
(d)
Said of double counterpoint, when an upper and a lower part change places.
9.
(Geol.)
The folding back of strata upon themselves, as by upheaval, in such a manner that the order of succession appears to be reversed.
10.
(Chem.)
The act or process by which cane sugar (sucrose), under the action of heat and acids or enzymes (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).
☞ The terms invert and inversion, in this sense, owe their meaning to the fact that the plane of polarization of light, which is rotated to the right by cane sugar, is turned toward the left by levulose.
Webster 1828 Edition
Inversion
INVER'SION
,Noun.
1.
Change of order, so that the last becomes first and the first last; a turning or change of the natural order of things. It is just the inversion of an act of parliament; your Lordship first signed it, and then it was passed among the lords and commons.
2.
Change of places, so that each takes the place of the other.3.
A turning backwards; a contrary rule of operation. Problems in geometry and arithmetic are often proved by inversion, as division by multiplication, and multiplication by division.4.
In grammar, a change of the natural order of words; as, 'of all vices, impurity is one of the most detestable.' instead of 'impurity is one of the most detestable of all vices.'5.
In music, the change of position either of a subject or of a chord.Definition 2024
Inversion
Inversion
German
Noun
Inversion f (genitive Inversion, plural Inversionen)
Declension
Declension of Inversion
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | eine | die | Inversion | die | Inversionen |
| genitive | einer | der | Inversion | der | Inversionen |
| dative | einer | der | Inversion | den | Inversionen |
| accusative | eine | die | Inversion | die | Inversionen |
inversion
inversion
English
Noun
inversion (plural inversions)
- the action of inverting
- being upside down, in an inverted state
- being in a reverse sequence, in an inverted state
- (music)
- The move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.
- The reversal of an interval.
- The reversal of the pitch contour.
- The reversal of a pitch class succession, such as a contrapuntal line or melody.
- The subtraction of pitch classes in a set from twelve, which maps intervals onto their complements with respect to 0, and preserves interval classes, symbolized IX (X being the transposition that is inverted.).
- (genetics) a segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is reversed in orientation relative to a reference karyotype or genome
- (weather) An increase of air temperature with increase in altitude (the ground being colder than the surrounding air). When an inversion exists, there are no convection currents and wind speeds are below 5 knots. The atmosphere is stable and normally is considered the most favorable state for ground release of chemical agents.
- (grammar) Deviation from standard word order by putting the predicate before the subject. It takes place in questions with auxiliary verbs and in normal, affirmative clauses beginning with a negative particle, for the purpose of emphasis.
- (with an auxiliary verb) Inversion takes place in the sentence 'Is she here?' — 'is', the predicate, is before 'she', the subject.
- (for the purpose of emphasis) Inversion takes place in the sentence 'Never have I done that.' — 'have', the predicate, is before 'I', the subject, due to 'never' being the first word of the sentence.
- 2007/08, abergs, “INFL-to-COMP movement”, in English Language and Linguistics Online, retrieved 2014-05-22:
- 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.
(a) Here we shall describe this phenomenon in terms of movement of the element under INFL into COMP position.
(b) According to this analysis, what looks like an exchanging of positions between the subject and auxiliary (or INFL element, in GB terms) is actually the movement of the INFL element past the subject position into COMP.
(c) INFL-to-COMP movement seems to be triggered by the presence of the [+WH] feature in COMP.
- 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.
- (algebra) An operation on a group analogous to negation.
- (psychology, obsolete) an outdated term for homosexuality, particularly popular in early psychoanalysis
Derived terms
Terms derived from inversion
|
|
Translations
deviation from standard word order by putting the predicate before the subject, in questions with auxiliary verbs and for the purpose of emphasis
See also
References
- (music) DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0130493465, Ch. 6.
- (genetics) Lars Feuk, Andrew R. Carson and Stephen W. Scherer (February 2006). "Structural variation in the human genome," Nature, 7:85.
- (genetics) Freeman et al., "Copy number variation: New insights into genome diversity" Genome Res 2006; 16: 949-61. — "DNA copy number variation has long been associated with specific chromosomal rearrangements and genomic disorders, but its ubiquity in mammalian genomes was not fully realized until recently. Although our understanding of the extent of this variation is still developing, it seems likely that, at least in humans, copy number variants (CNVs) account for a substantial amount of genetic variation."