inverse: Meaning and Definition of

in•verse

1. reversed in position, order, direction, or tendency.
1. (of a proportion) containing terms of which an increase in one results in a decrease in another. A term is said to be in inverse proportion to another term if it increases (or decreases) as the other decreases (or increases).
2. of or pertaining to an inverse function. Cf. direct (def. 16).
3. inverted; turned upside down.

1. an inverted state or condition.
2. something that is inverse; the direct opposite.
1. an element of an algebraic system, as a group, corresponding to a given element such that its product or sum with the given element is the identity element.
2. Seeinverse function.
3. a point related to a given point so that it is situated on the same radius, extended if necessary, of a given circle or sphere and so that the product of the distances of the two points from the center equals the square of the radius of the circle or sphere.
4. the set of such inverses of the points of a given set, as the points on a curve.

1. to invert.