reversal

Language: en

🇺🇸 /rɪˈvɜrsəl/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    A change to an opposite direction, position, or course of action; the act of reversing or the state of being reversed.; A change for the worse; a setback or misfortune.; In law, the annulment or setting aside of a lower court's judgment or decision by a higher court.; In photography, a positive transparency produced from a negative, or a film that produces a positive image directly.; In chess, a situation where a player who was previously losing gains the advantage, or a change in the evaluation of a position.; In psychology, a change in the direction of a drive, emotion, or behavioral tendency to its opposite.; In finance, a change in the direction of a price trend, such as from bullish to bearish or vice versa.; The act of turning something inside out or upside down; an inversion.; In genetics, a mutation that restores the original phenotype by reversing the effect of a previous mutation.; In medicine, the process of counteracting or undoing the effects of a drug, procedure, or condition.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable Plural: reversals

Collocations

reversal of fortunereversal of policycomplete reversalsudden reversalreversal of rolesdramatic reversal

Derivatives

reversereversibleirreversiblereversibilityreversely

Synonyms

turnaroundabout-faceinversionflipu-turnbackflip

Antonyms

continuationmaintenance

Commonly confused

reverse
EN: 'Reverse' is the verb, adjective, or general noun; 'reversal' specifically refers to the act or instance of reversing, often implying a significant change.
reversion
EN: 'Reversion' means a return to a previous state or condition; 'reversal' means a change to the opposite direction or outcome.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember that 'reversal' ends in '-al' (not '-el'), and note the single 'r' before the '-al' suffix.

💬 Examples

  1. The reversal of the company's fortunes surprised all analysts.

  2. He suffered a major financial reversal after the market crash.

  3. The appellate court issued a reversal of the original verdict.

  4. She preferred shooting with reversal film for its vivid colors.

  5. The grandmaster achieved a remarkable reversal in the endgame.

  6. The patient showed a complete reversal of his previous attitudes toward therapy.

  7. Traders watched for signs of a reversal in the stock's upward trend.

  8. The reversal of the image in the mirror confused the young child.

  9. The reversal mutation restored the wild-type phenotype in the bacterial colony.

  10. The doctor administered naloxone for the reversal of the opioid overdose.