n. The act of inverting, or the state of being inverted; a turning end for end, upside down, or inside out; any change of order such that the last becomes first and the first last; in general, any reversal of a given order or relation.n. Specifically— In grammar, a change of the natural or recognized order of words: as, “of all vices, impurity is one of the most detestable,” instead of “impurity is one of the most detestable of all vices.”n. In rhetoric, a mode of arguing by which the speaker tries to show that the arguments adduced by an opponent tell against his cause and are favorable to the speaker's.n. In music: The process, act, or result of transposing the tones of an interval or chord from their original or normal order. The several inversions of a chord are called first, second, and third respectively. See interval, 5, and chord, 4.n. The process, act, or result of repeating a subject or theme with all its upward intervals or steps taken downward, and vice versa. Also called imitation by inversion or in contrary motion. (See imitation, 3.) Retrograde inversion, however, is the same as retrograde imitation (which see, under imitation, 3).n. In double counterpoint, the transposition of the upper voice-part below the lower, and vice versa. Inversion is the test of the correctness of the composition. The transposition may be either of an octave or of any other interval.n. In mathematics: A turning backward; a contrary rule of operation: as, to prove an answer by inversion, as division by multiplication or addition by subtraction.n. Change in the order of the terms.n. Certain transformations. Also the operation of reversing the direction of every line in a body without altering its length.n. In geology, the folding back of strata upon themselves, as by upheaval, in such a way that the order of succession appears reversed.n. Milit., a movement in tactics by which the order of companies in line is inverted, the right being on the left, the left on the right, and so on.n. In chem., a decomposition of certain sugars and other carbohydrates, induced by the action of a ferment or dilute acid by which the elements of water are added to a carbohydrate, each molecule of which breaks up into two molecules of a different carbohydrate. Thus, cane-sugar in solution, when heated with a dilute acid, takes up water and breaks up into equal parts of dextrose and levulose. See invert-sugar.