reversed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of reverse.

   The committee reversed its earlier decision after the protests.

   Engineers reversed the pump's direction to drain the flooded tunnel.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty: the committee reversed its decision, and the decision has been reversed or was reversed. In passives the participle shades into the "contrary" adjective, since a reversed decision is simply one that someone reversed. Older texts hold a trap: the verb once also meant to return or to turn away, so there reversed can mean "came back" rather than "turned around."

2. 2
   adjective

   Turned or changed to the contrary, or with the inside turned out.

   After the appeal, the verdict effectively stood reversed.

   The reversed lettering on the ambulance reads correctly in a rearview mirror.

   Similarinverted, backward

3. 3
   adjective

   Turned upside down by twisting, so a flower or leaf has its orientation inverted from the usual.

   The orchid's flower is reversed, with the lip rotated to the bottom.

   Botanists noted the reversed arrangement of the floral parts on the specimen.

   Similarinverted

   Note

   A botanist's word, and a plainer stand-in for resupinate: the flower or leaf has turned through roughly 180° on its stalk, so its upper and lower surfaces have swapped places. Many orchids are the classic case, since the lip, which would naturally sit on top, matures at the lowest point. Unlike the everyday "turned to the contrary", the reversal here is a twist of growth, not a change of state.

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