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reversal

UK/ɹɪˈvɜː(ɹ)səl/US/ɹɪˈvɜː(ɹ)səl/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,941 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: reversals

A reversal is a change to the opposite direction or decision. A policy reversal, a reversal of fortune, sudden reversal.

It is a complete turn rather than an adjustment, which is why announcing one is politically expensive. A reversal of fortune is the classical engine of drama. In law, a reversal is an appeal court overturning a lower decision. Note reverse; and that role reversal swaps two positions entirely.

Definitions of reversal

  1. 1nounreversalA change to the opposite direction or decision.B2

    “The government's sudden reversal on school fees surprised everyone.”

reversal is a turning around.

Where it comes from

  1. Middle English

    reversall

  2. English, today

    reversal

From Middle English reversall.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

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reversal in the wild

  • There have been at least 183 reversals over the last 83 million years.

    Geomagnetic reversal

  • Some sources estimate that the four most recent reversals took on average 7,000 years to occur.

    Geomagnetic reversal

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.