invert

UK: /ɪnˈvɜː^rt/ US: /ɪnˈvɝt/ ,(v. in vûrt′; adj., n. in′vûrt)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•vert /ɪnˈvɜrt/   v. [~ + object]

1. to turn upside down.
2. to reverse in position, order, direction, or relationship.
3. to turn inward or back upon itself;
   to turn inside out.

See -vert-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•vert  (v. in vûrt′;adj., n. in′vûrt), v.t. 

1. to turn upside down.
2. to reverse in position, order, direction, or relationship.
3. to turn or change to the opposite or contrary, as in nature, bearing, or effect:
   to invert a process.
4. to turn inward or back upon itself.
5. to turn inside out.
6. Chemistry to subject to inversion.
7. Music and Dance to subject to musical inversion.
8. Phonetics to articulate as a retroflex vowel.

v.i. 

9. Chemistry to become inverted.

adj. 

10. Chemistry subjected to inversion.

n. 

11. a person or thing that is inverted.
12. a homosexual.
13. (in plumbing) that portion of the interior of a drain or sewer pipe where the liquid is deepest.
14. an inverted arch or vault.
15. Stamps [Philately.] a two-colored postage stamp with all or part of the central design printed upside down in relation to the inscription.

• Latin invertere to turn upside down or inside out, equivalent. to in- in-² + vertere to turn; see verse
• 1525–35

in•vert′i•ble, adj. 
in•vert′i•bil′i•ty, n. 
Synonyms

• 2. See reverse. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

invert verb / ɪnˈvɜːt/

1. to turn or cause to turn upside down or inside out
2. (transitive) to reverse in effect, sequence, direction, etc
3. (transitive) to turn (the tip of the tongue) up and back
4. to pronounce (a speech sound) by retroflexion

noun / ˈɪnvɜːt/

1. a person who adopts the role of a different gender to the one that was assigned to them at birth
2. an old-fashioned word for homosexual
3. the lower inner surface of a drain, sewer, etc
4. an arch that is concave upwards, esp one used in foundations

Etymology: 16th Century: from Latin invertere, from in-² + vertere to turn

inˈvertible adjective

inˌvertiˈbility noun