Invert Meaning
/ɪnˈvɜːt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo turn (something) upside down or inside out; to place in a contrary order or direction.
verbTo move (the root note of a chord) up or down an octave, resulting in a change in pitch.
Sentence Examples
It might help if you invert the colours.
It might help if you invert the colors.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
If you want to reverse the black and white areas, you can ____ the picture using software.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
To perform the experiment correctly, you must ____ the test tube and wait for the gas to rise to the top.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French invertir.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears, / As if these organs had deceptious functions."
— c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
"Seldom, alas! the power of logic reigns / With much ſufficiency in royal brains. / Such reaſ'ning falls like an inverted cone, / Wanting its proper baſe to ſtand upon."
— 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 4:
"[H]e had miſgouerned the ſtate, inuerted his treaſures to his owne priuat […]"
— 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
"We can seldom, therefore, congratulate ourselves on the success of any "cure" of inversion. The success is unlikely to be either permanent or complete, in the case of a decided invert; and in the most successful cases we have simply put into the invert's hands a power of reproduction which it is undesirable he should possess."
— 1897, W. Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion, page 202:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
If you want to reverse the black and white areas, you can ____ the picture using software.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
To perform the experiment correctly, you must ____ the test tube and wait for the gas to rise to the top.