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say it: in-VUR-zhuhn
inversion is a noun meaning "the layer of air near the earth is cooler than an overlying layer". It carries 9 recorded senses.
the layer of air near the earth is cooler than an overlying layer
abnormal condition in which an organ is turned inward or inside out (as when the upper part of the uterus is pulled into the cervical canal after childbirth)
a chemical process in which the direction of optical rotation of a substance is reversed from dextrorotatory to levorotary or vice versa
(genetics) a kind of mutation in which the order of the genes in a section of a chromosome is reversed
genetics
the reversal of the normal order of words
(counterpoint) a variation of a melody or part in which ascending intervals are replaced by descending intervals and vice versa
counterpoint
a term formerly used to mean taking on the gender role of the opposite sex
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for inversion come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.