Definition of "reversal" []

• The act or an instance of reversing. (noun)
• The state of being reversed. (noun)
• A usually adverse change in fortune: financial reversals. (noun)
• Law The act or an instance of changing or setting aside a lower court's decision by a higher court. (noun)
• Sports A maneuver in wrestling in which a competitor being controlled by the opponent suddenly reverses the situation and gains control. (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.

• "His quirky syllogisms lend themselves to pleasing rhetoric, as when he distinguished the "trick" and the "trap" views of democracy according to whether people power is too good to be true or instead too true to be good, a phrase reversal worthy of Kennedy or Churchill."
• "I didn't think you'd understand the word "reversal.""
• "Bolton tries to discredit those who previously criticized the "intelligence community" because of what he characterizes as a reversal in position."