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Reverse vs Adverse - What's the difference?

reverse | adverse |

As adjectives the difference between reverse and adverse

is that reverse is opposite, contrary; going in the opposite direction while adverse is unfavorable; antagonistic in purpose or effect; hostile; actively opposing one's interests or wishes; contrary to one's welfare; acting against; working in an opposing direction.

As an adverb reverse

is in a reverse way or direction; upside-down.

As a noun reverse

is the opposite of something.

As a verb reverse

is to turn something around such that it faces in the opposite direction.

reverse

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Opposite, contrary; going in the opposite direction.
  • We ate the meal in reverse order, starting with dessert and ending with the starter.
    The mirror showed us a reverse view of the scene.
  • Pertaining to engines, vehicle movement etc. moving in a direction opposite to the usual direction.
  • He selected reverse gear.
  • (rail transport, of points) to be in the non-default position; to be set for the lesser-used route.
  • Turned upside down; greatly disturbed.
  • * Gower
  • He found the sea diverse / With many a windy storm reverse .
  • (botany) Reversed.
  • a reverse shell

    Antonyms

    * (rail transport) normal

    Derived terms

    * reverse discrimination

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • *, Bk.XVIII:
  • *:they three smote hym at onys with their spearys, and with fors of themselff they smote Sir Launcelottis horse revers to the erthe.
  • *1963 , Donal Serrell Thomas, Points of Contact :
  • *:The man was killed to feed his image fat / Within this pictured world that ran reverse , / Where miracles alone were ever plain.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The opposite of something.
  • We believed the Chinese weren't ready for us. In fact, the reverse was true.
  • The act of going backwards; a reversal.
  • * Lamb
  • By a reverse of fortune, Stephen becomes rich.
  • A piece of misfortune; a setback.
  • * 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 309:
  • In fact, though the Russians did not yet know it, the British had met with a reverse .
  • The tails side of a coin, or the side of a medal or badge that is opposite the obverse.
  • The side of something facing away from a viewer, or from what is considered the front; the other side.
  • The gear setting of an automobile that makes it travel backwards.
  • A thrust in fencing made with a backward turn of the hand; a backhanded stroke.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (surgery) A turn or fold made in bandaging, by which the direction of the bandage is changed.
  • Derived terms

    * in reverse

    Verb

    (revers)
  • To turn something around such that it faces in the opposite direction.
  • To turn something inside out or upside down.
  • * Sir W. Temple
  • A pyramid reversed may stand upon his point if balanced by admirable skill.
  • To transpose the positions of two things.
  • To change totally; to alter to the opposite.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Reverse the doom of death.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • She reversed the conduct of the celebrated vicar of Bray.
  • (obsolete) To return, come back.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.4:
  • Bene they all dead, and laide in dolefull herse? / Or doen they onely sleepe, and shall againe reuerse ?
  • (obsolete) To turn away; to cause to depart.
  • * Spenser
  • And that old dame said many an idle verse, / Out of her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse .
  • (obsolete) To cause to return; to recall.
  • * Spenser
  • And to his fresh remembrance did reverse / The ugly view of his deformed crimes.
  • (legal) To revoke a law, or to change a decision into its opposite.
  • to reverse a judgment, sentence, or decree
  • (ergative) To cause a mechanism or a vehicle to operate or move in the opposite direction to normal.
  • (chemistry) To change the direction of a reaction such that the products become the reactants and vice-versa.
  • (rail transport) To place a set of points in the reverse position
  • (rail transport, intransitive, of points) to move from the normal position to the reverse position
  • To overthrow; to subvert.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • These can divide, and these reverse , the state.
  • * Rogers
  • Custom reverses even the distinctions of good and evil.

    Derived terms

    * to reverse out * bootlegger reverse * reversal noun

    Antonyms

    * (rail transport) normalise / normalize (transitive and intransitive)

    Anagrams

    * * * English ergative verbs ----

    adverse

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Unfavorable; antagonistic in purpose or effect; hostile; actively opposing one's interests or wishes; contrary to one's welfare; acting against; working in an opposing direction.
  • adverse criticism
  • * Southey
  • Happy were it for us all if we bore prosperity as well and wisely as we endure an adverse fortune.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.}}
  • Opposed; contrary; opposing one's interests or desire.
  • adverse circumstances.
  • (not comparable) Opposite; confronting.
  • the adverse page
    the adverse party
  • * 1809 , , Google Books
  • Calpe's adverse height / must greet my sight

    Usage notes

    Adverse'' is sometimes confused with (averse), though the meanings are somewhat different. ''Adverse'' most often refers to things, denoting something that is in opposition to someone's interests — something one might refer to as an (adversity) or (adversary) — (''adverse winds''; ''an attitude adverse to our ideals''). ''Averse'' usually refers to people, and implies one has a distaste, disinclination, or (aversion) toward something (''a leader averse to war''; ''an investor averse to risk taking''). ''Averse'' is most often used with "''to''" in a construction like "''I am averse to…''". ''Adverse shows up less often in this type of construction, describing a person instead of a thing, and should carry a meaning of "actively opposed to" rather that "has an aversion to".

    Derived terms

    * adversely * adverseness

    See also

    * averse

    Anagrams

    * * ----