A relation of direct opposition:
— We thought Sue was older than Bill but just the reverse was true.

synonyms: contrary, opposite.

Roget 237: contraposition^†, opposition; polarity; inversion etc. 218; opposite side; reverse, inverse; counterpart; antipodes; opposite poles, North and South.    antonym, opposite (contrariety) 14.    ... show more

Roget 840: amusement, entertainment, recreation, fun, game, fun and games; diversion, divertissement; reaction, solace; pastime, passetemps [Fr.], sport; labor of love; pleasure etc. 827.    relaxation; leisure etc. 685.    fun, frolic, merriment, jollity; joviality, jovialness^†; heyday; laughter etc. 838; jocosity, jocoseness^†; drollery, buffoonery, tomfoolery; mummery, pleasantry; wit etc. 842; quip, quirk.    [verbal expressions of amusement: list] giggle, titter, snigger, snicker, crow, cheer, chuckle, shout; horse laugh, belly laugh, hearty laugh; guffaw; burst of laughter, fit of laughter, shout of laughter, roar of laughter, peal of laughter; cachinnation^†; Kentish fire; tiger.    play; game, game at romps; gambol, romp, prank, antic, rig, lark, spree, skylarking, vagary, monkey trick, gambade, fredaine^†, escapade, echappee [Fr.], bout, espieglerie [Fr.]; practical joke etc. (ridicule) 856.    dance; hop, reel, rigadoon^†, saraband^†, hornpipe, bolero, ballroom dance; [ballroom dances: list], minuet, waltz, polka, fox trot, tango, samba, rhumba, twist, stroll, hustle, cha-cha; fandango, cancan; bayadere^†; breakdown, cake-walk, cornwallis [U.S.], break dancing; nautch-girl; shindig [U.S.]; skirtdance^†, stag dance, Virginia reel, square dance; galop^†, galopade^†; jig, Irish jig, fling, strathspey^†; allemande [Fr.]; gavot^†, gavotte, tarantella; mazurka, morisco^†, morris dance; quadrille; country dance, folk dance; cotillon, Sir Roger de Coverley; ballet etc. (drama) 599; ball; bal, bal masque, bal costume; masquerade; Terpsichore.    festivity, merrymaking; party etc. (social gathering) 892; blowout [U.S.], hullabaloo, hoedown, bat [U.S.], bum [U.S.], bust [Slang], clambake [U.S.], donation party [U.S.], fish fry [U.S.], jamboree [Slang], kantikoy^†, nautch^†, randy, squantum [U.S.], tear [Slang], Turnerfest^†, yule log; fete, festival, gala, ridotto^†; revels, revelry, reveling; carnival, brawl, saturnalia, high jinks; feast, banquet etc. (food) 298; regale, symposium, wassail; carouse, carousal; jollification, junket, wake, Irish wake, picnic, fete champetre [Fr.], regatta, field day; treat.    round of pleasures, dissipation, a short life and a merry one, racketing, holiday making.    rejoicing etc. 838; jubilee etc. (celebration) 883.    bonfire, fireworks, feu-de-joie, firecracker.    holiday; gala day, red letter day, play day; high days and holidays; high holiday, Bank holiday; May day, Derby day; Saint Monday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday; Bairam^†; wayz-goos^†, bean feast; Arbor Day, Declaration Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day; Mardi gras [Fr.], mi-careme [Fr.], feria [Lat.], fiesta.    place of amusement, theater; hall, concert room, ballroom, assemblyroom^†; music hall.    park, plaisance^†; national park, national forest, state park, county park, city park, vest-pocket park, public park (public) 737.1; arbor; garden etc. (horticulture) 371; pleasure ground, playground, cricketground, croquet ground, archery ground, hunting ground; tennis court, racket court; bowling alley, green alley; croquet lawn, rink, glaciarum^†, skating rink; roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne Russe [Fr.].    game of chance, game of skill.    athletic sports, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament, pugilism etc. (contention) 720; sports etc. 622; horse racing, the turf; aquatics etc. 267; skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis; hockey, football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, basketball; rackets, fives, trap bat and ball, battledore and shuttlecock, la grace; pall-mall, tipcat^†, croquet, golf, curling, pallone^†, polo, water polo; tent pegging; tilting at the ring, quintain [Mediev.]; greasy pole; quoits, horseshoes, discus; rounders, lacrosse; tobogganing, water polo; knurr and spell^†.    [childrens' games] leapfrog, hop skip and jump; mother may I; French and English, tug of war; blindman's bluff, hunt the slopper^†, hide and seek, kiss in the ring; snapdragon; cross questions and crooked answers.   ; crisscross, hopscotch; jacks, jackstones^†, marbles; mumblety-peg, mumble-the-peg, pushball, shinney, shinny, tag &c.; billiards, pool, pingpong, pyramids, bagatelle; bowls, skittles, ninepins, kain^†, American bowls^†; tenpins [U.S.], tivoli.    cards, card games; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage, besique^†, euchre, drole^†, ecarte [Fr.], picquet^†, allfours^†, quadrille, omber, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, boaston^†; blackjack, twenty-one, vingtun [Fr.]; quinze [Fr.], thirty-one, put, speculation, connections, brag, cassino^†, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snoren^†, lift smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, Napoleon, patience, pairs; banker; blind poker, draw poker, straight poker, stud poker; bluff, bridge, bridge whist; lotto, monte, three-card monte, nap, penny-ante, poker, reversis^†, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-neighbor; baccarat.    [cards: list] ace, king, queen, knave, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey, deuce; joker; trump, wild card.    [card suits: list] spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds; major suit, minor suit.    bower; right bower, left bower; dummy; jackpot; deck.    [hands at poker: list] pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full-house, four of a kind, royal flush; misere &c.. [board games: list] chess, draughts, checkers, checquers, backgammon, dominos, merelles^†, nine men's morris, go bang, solitaire; game of fox and goose; monopoly; loto &c.; [word games: list], scrabble, scribbage, boggle, crossword puzzle, hangman.    morra^†; gambling etc. (chance) 621.    toy, plaything, bauble; doll etc. (puppet ) 554; teetotum^†; knickknack etc. (trifle) 643; magic lantern etc. (show) 448; peep show, puppet show, raree show, gallanty show^†; toy shop; quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles" [Milton]. entertainer, showman, showgirl; dancer, tap dancer, song-and-dance man; vaudeville act; singer; musician etc. 416.    sportsman, gamester, reveler; master of ceremonies, master of revels; pompom girl^†; arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.]; arbiter bibendi [Lat.], archer, fan [U.S.], toxophilite^†, turfman^†.    ... show more

Roget 235: rear, back, posteriority; rear rank, rear guard; background, hinterland.    occiput [Anat.], nape, chine; heels; tail, rump, croup, buttock, posteriors, backside scut^†, breech, dorsum, loin; dorsal region, lumbar region; hind quarters; aitchbone^†; natch, natch bone.    stern, poop, afterpart^†, heelpiece^†, crupper.    wake; train etc. (sequence) 281.    reverse; other side of the shield.    ... show more

Dutch: omgekeerde, tegendeel, tegenovergestelde, tegengestelde, antipode, pool, tegenpool, tegenvoeter
Polish: odwrotność, przeciwieństwo

The gears by which the motion of a machine can be reversed.

synonym: reverse gear.

Dutch: achteruit
Polish: wsteczny bieg

An unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something that is thwarting or frustrating.

synonyms: black eye, blow, reversal, setback.

Roget 735: adversity, evil etc. 619; failure etc. 732; bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot; frowns of fortune; evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius^†; vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes; hard case, hard lines, hard life; sea of troubles; peck of troubles; hell upon earth; slough of despond.    trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure.    pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint; hard times, bad times, sad times; rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind; visitation, infliction; affliction etc. (painfulness) 830; bitter pill; care, trial; the sport of fortune.    mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune; disaster, calamity, catastrophe; accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub; backset^†, comedown, setback [U.S.].    losing game; falling etc. v.; fall, downfall; ruination, ruinousness; undoing; extremity; ruin etc. (destruction) 162.    ... show more

Dutch: tegenslag, domper, strop

The side of a coin or medal that does not bear the principal design.

synonym: verso.

Polish: rewers

American football A running play in which a back running in one direction hands the ball to a back running in the opposite direction.

Turning in the opposite direction.

synonyms: reversal, reversion, turnabout, turnaround.

Change to the contrary:
— The trend was reversed.

synonyms: change by reversal, turn.

Roget 140: change, alter, vary, wax and wane; modulate, diversify, qualify, tamper with; turn, shift, veer, tack, chop, shuffle, swerve, warp, deviate, turn aside, evert, intervert^†; pass to, take a turn, turn the corner, resume.    work a change, modify, vamp, superinduce; transform, transfigure, transmute, transmogrify, transume^†; metamorphose, ring the changes.    innovate, introduce new blood, shuffle the cards; give a turn to, give a color to; influence, turn the scale; shift the scene, turn over a new leaf.    recast etc. 146; reverse etc. 218; disturb etc. 61; convert into etc. 144.    ... show more

Turn inside out or upside down.

synonyms: invert, turn back.

Roget 218: be inverted &c.; turn round, turn about, turn to the right about, go round, go about, go to the right about, wheel round, wheel about, wheel to the right about; turn over, go over, tilt over, topple over; capsize, turn turtle.    invert, subvert, retrovert^†, introvert; reverse; up turn, over turn, up set, over set; turn topsy turvy etc. adj.; culbuter^†; transpose, put the cart before the horse, turn the tables.    ... show more

Roget 14: be contrary etc. adj.; contrast with, oppose; diller toto coelo [Lat.].    invert, reverse, turn the tables; turn topsy-turvy, turn end for end, turn upside down, turn inside out.    contradict, contravene; antagonize etc. 708.    ... show more

Dutch: omkeren, omdraaien

Rule against.

synonyms: override, overrule, overthrow, overturn.

Dutch: verwerpen

Cancel officially.

synonyms: annul, countermand, lift, overturn, repeal, rescind, revoke, vacate.

Roget 756: abrogate, annul, cancel; destroy etc. 162; abolish; revoke, repeal, rescind, reverse, retract, recall; abolitionize^†; overrule, override; set aside; disannul, dissolve, quash, nullify, declare null and void; disestablish, disendow^†; deconsecrate.    disclaim etc. (deny) 536; ignore, repudiate; recant etc. 607; divest oneself, break off.    countermand, counter order; do away with; sweep away, brush away; throw overboard, throw to the dogs; scatter to the winds, cast behind.    dismiss, discard; cast off, turn off, cast out, cast adrift, cast out of doors, cast aside, cast away; send off, send away, send packing, send about one's business; discharge, get rid of etc. (eject) 297; bounce [U.S.]; fire [Slang], fire out [Slang]; sack [Slang].    cashier; break; oust; unseat, unsaddle; unthrone^†, dethrone, disenthrone^†; depose, uncrown^†; unfrock, strike off the roll; disbar, disbench^†.    be abrogated &c.; receive its quietus; walk the plank.    ... show more

Dutch: herroepen, afschaffen, annuleren, intrekken, terugtrekken, achteruitzetten, terugdraaien

Reverse the position, order, relation, or condition of.

synonym: invert.

Directed or moving toward the rear.

synonym: rearward.

Roget 14: contrary, contrarious^†, contrariant^†; opposite, counter, dead against; converse, reverse; opposed, antithetical, contrasted, antipodean, antagonistic, opposing; conflicting, inconsistent, contradictory, at cross purposes; negative; hostile etc. 703.    differing toto coelo [Lat.]; diametrically opposite; diametrically opposed; as opposite as black and white, as opposite as light and darkness, as opposite as fire and water, as opposite as the poles; as different as night and day; Hyperion to a satyr" [Hamlet]; quite the contrary, quite the reverse; no such thing, just the other way, tout au contraire [Fr.].    ... show more

Of the transmission gear causing backward movement in a motor vehicle.

Reversed (turned backward) in order or nature or effect.

synonym: inverse.

Roget 237: opposite; reverse, inverse; converse, antipodal, subcontrary^†; fronting, facing, diametrically opposite.    Northern, septentrional, Boreal, arctic; Southern, Austral, antarctic.    ... show more

Roget 218: inverted etc. v.; wrong side out, wrong side up; inside out, upside down; bottom upwards, keel upwards; supine, on one's head, topsy-turvy, sens dessus dessous [Fr.].    inverse; reverse etc. (contrary) 14; opposite etc. 237.    top heavy.    ... show more