reverse

1. 1.

   change to the contrary

   “The trend was reversed”

   “the tides turned against him”

   “public opinion turned when it was revealed that the president had an affair with a White House intern”

   Synonymschange by reversalturn

   Broaderchange

   Narrowerinterchangeturn the tablescommutateswitch overcorrectfalsifypermutemetamorphoserevertdesynchronize
2. 2.

   turn inside out or upside down

   Synonymsturn backinvert

   Broaderchange
3. 3.

   rule against

   “The Republicans were overruled when the House voted on the bill”

   Synonymsoverruleoverturnoverrideoverthrow

   Broaderrule
4. 4.

   cancel officially

   “He revoked the ban on smoking”

   “lift an embargo”

   “vacate a death sentence”

   Synonymsrevokeannulliftcountermandrepealoverturnrescindvacate

   Broadercancel

   Narrower
5. 5.

   reverse the position, order, relation, or condition of

   “when forming a question, invert the subject and the verb”

   Synonymsinvert

   Broaderreorder

1. 1.

   directed or moving toward the rear

   “a rearward glance”

   “a rearward movement”

   Synonymsrearward

   Similarbackward
2. 2.

   of the transmission gear causing backward movement in a motor vehicle

   “in reverse gear”

   Antonymsforward
3. 3.

   reversed (turned backward) in order or nature or effect

   Synonymsinverse

   Similarbackward

Other forms of reverse

plural

reverses·

past tense

reversed·

present participle

reversing·

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.

Questions about reverse

What does reverse mean?

reverse means "a relation of direct opposition". That is the primary sense; the word has 14 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in reverse?

reverse has 2 syllables: re-verse. The stress falls on "verse". In IPA it is /ɹɪˈvɝs/.

What is another word for reverse?

Close synonyms include contrary, opposite, reverse gear, reversal, setback. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of reverse?

The recorded antonyms are obverse, forward.

Is reverse a common word?

reverse is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with reverse?

9 words rhyme with reverse. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.