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Invert vs Subvert - What's the difference?

invert | subvert |

In transitive terms the difference between invert and subvert

is that invert is to turn (something) upside down or inside out; to place in a contrary order or direction while subvert is to upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath).

As an adjective invert

is subjected to the process of inversion; inverted; converted.

invert

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To turn (something) upside down or inside out; to place in a contrary order or direction.
  • to invert a cup, the order of words, rules of justice, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
  • That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears, / As if these organs had deceptious functions.
  • * Cowper
  • Such reasoning falls like an inverted cone, / Wanting its proper base to stand upon.
  • (music) To move (the root note of a chord) up or down an octave, resulting in a change in pitch.
  • (chemistry) To undergo inversion, as sugar.
  • To divert; to convert to a wrong use.
  • (Knolles)

    Derived terms

    * invert sugar * inverted * invertible

    See also

    * convert

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A homosexual man.
  • (architecture) An inverted arch (as in a sewer). *
  • The base of a tunnel on which the road or railway may be laid and used when construction is through unstable ground. It may be flat or form a continuous curve with the tunnel arch. invert (in'?vert) The floor or bottom of the internal cross section of a closed conduit, such as an aqueduct, tunnel, or drain - The term originally referred to the inverted arch used to form the bottom of a masonry?lined sewer or tunnel (Jackson, 1997) Wilson, W.E., Moore, J.E., (2003) Glossary of Hydrology, Berlin: Springer
  • (civil engineering) The lowest point inside a pipe at a certain point.
  • (civil engineering) An elevation of a pipe at a certain point along the pipe.
  • Adjective

    (-)
  • (chemistry) Subjected to the process of inversion; inverted; converted.
  • invert sugar

    References

    English heteronyms

    subvert

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) subverten, from (etyl) subvertir, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He razeth your cities, and subverts your towns.
  • * John Locke
  • This would subvert the principles of all knowledge.
  • To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound.
  • A dictator stays in power only as long as he manages to subvert the will of his people.
  • To upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath).
  • Derived terms
    * subversion * subversive

    Etymology 2

    , by analogy with advert.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An advertisement created by subvertising.
  • Synonyms
    * subvertisement