Definition of "inversion" []

• The act of inverting. (noun)
• The state of being inverted. (noun)
• An interchange of position of adjacent objects in a sequence, especially a change in normal word order, such as the placement of a verb before its subject. (noun)
• Music A rearrangement of tones in which the upper and lower voices of a melody are transposed, as in counterpoint. (noun)
• Music A rearrangement of tones in which each interval in a single melody is applied in the opposite direction. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Simply put, when we hear the term inversion on the news we are generally talking about a temperature inversion."
• "A prime cause of this inversion is the distortion in perception brought about by rank tribalism."
• "After all, the inversion is a tonal sift — a choice that the translator makes for effect."