Definition

Verb: * To cause something to become the opposite of what it was; to turn something into its contrary state or direction.

Usage

This verb describes the action of flipping, inverting, or undoing a condition, direction, trend, or decision. It is often used in formal or analytical contexts to discuss shifts in abstract concepts like opinion, policy, fortune, or momentum. * The court's ruling changed by reversal the previous legal precedent. * A single scientific discovery can change by reversal our understanding of a fundamental principle. * The manager changed by reversal his decision after hearing the team's feedback.

Advanced Usage

• In Legal Contexts: Often used to describe a higher court overturning the judgment of a lower court.
  • The appellate court changed by reversal the lower court's verdict, granting the defendant a new trial.
• In Scientific/Technical Contexts: Can describe inverting a process, a magnetic field, or a data sequence.
  • The experiment required the physicist to change by reversal the polarity of the electromagnet.

Variants and Related Words

• Reverse (verb): The more common and direct synonym.
• Invert (verb): To turn upside down or inside out; often used for physical or logical order.
• Overturn (verb): To officially abolish or invalidate a rule, system, or legal decision.
• Reversal (noun): The act or instance of changing by reversal; the state of being reversed.

Synonyms

• Reverse
• Turn
• Overturn
• Invert
• Undo

Related Phrases

• Turn the tide: To cause a complete change in the situation, especially from bad to good or vice versa.
  • The new evidence turned the tide in the investigation.
• Do an about-face: To make a complete reversal in opinion or policy.
  • The company did an about-face on its remote work policy.

Verb

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