Inversion

English

Noun

Inversion (plural Inversions)

1. the action of inverting
2. being upside down, in an inverted state
3. being in a reverse sequence, in an inverted state
4. (music) The move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.
5. (music) The reversal of an interval.
6. (music) The reversal of the pitch contour.
7. (music) The reversal of a pitch class succession, such as a contrapuntal line or melody.
8. (music)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.).
9. (genetics) a segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is reversed in orientation relative to a reference karyotype or genome
10. (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.
11. (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.

12. (psychology) (obsolete) an outdated term for homosexuality, particularly popular in early psychoanalysis

Related terms

• twelve tone technique
• serialism

Derived terms

• pericentric inversion
• paracentric inversion

Adjectives for Inversion

unnatural; monstrous; total.

Thesaurus

about-face, addition, approximation, differentiation, division, equation, evolution, extrapolation, integration, interpolation, involution, multiplication, notation, practice, proportion, reduction, reversal, reverse, reversion, subtraction, transformation, turn, turnabout, turning, volte-face

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)ʒən

Translations

Deviation from standard word order by putting the predicate before the subject, in questions with auxiliary verbs and for the purpose of emphasis

Finnish: käänteinen sanajärjestys (fi)

Macedonian: инверзија (mk) (invérzija) f.

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."

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Venetian

Noun

Inversion f. inv.

1. inversion (all senses)
2. reversal, reversing

Etymology

Compare Italian inversione