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# invert

«invert» in Mova's school dictionary: **to turn it upside down** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (invert, inverts, inverted, inverting); noun (an invert — rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To invert something is to turn it upside down. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#m1)

2) To invert something is to swap it round so it goes the opposite way, back to front or in reverse order. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#m2)

3) (maths) To invert a fraction is to turn it upside down, so 2/3 becomes 3/2. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In maths, dividing by a fraction means «invert and multiply». In science, a lens can invert an image. In English grammar, questions invert the subject and verb («Is he…?»). «Inverted commas» are quotation marks (UK). It tells the reader that the order or direction has been flipped.

### examples

- Invert the glass and the water will spill out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x1)
- To divide by 1/2, invert it and multiply by 2. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x2)
- A pinhole camera inverts the picture. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x3)
- In a question we invert «he is» to «is he». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x4)
- Put the words in inverted commas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x5)
- The cake was inverted onto a plate. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x6)
- Bats hang inverted from the cave roof. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/#x7)

### note

Regular: inverted, inverting. Noun: inversion. «Inverted commas» (UK) = speech marks. Maths trap: inverting 4 (= 4/1) gives 1/4.

### In the corpora

- [Newspaper articles include quotes, which are people's exact words in inverted commas.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/21/)
- [Direct speech is the exact words someone says; it goes inside inverted commas, also called speech marks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/5/)
- [The punctuation that ends the spoken words goes inside the closing inverted commas.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «invert» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/invert/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.