Invertibleness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being able to be reversed or turned upside down; the state of possessing the capability to be inverted; the condition of allowing reversal or opposite positioning
2. Characteristic of something that can undergo transformation by flipping or switching orientation; the property of being capable of reverting to a previous state; the aspect of permitting directional change or overturning
3. The attribute of permitting a reversal in form or position; the state describing the ease with which something can be turned inside out or upside down; the condition indicating reversibility or change in order

Etymology: "Invertibleness" is a plain English formation with no dramatic backstory: the adjective "invertible" plus the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun meaning "the state or quality of being" that adjective. "Invertible" itself comes from "invert," borrowed from the Latin "invertere," meaning "to turn upside down or over," built from "in-" (in, into) and "vertere" (to turn). "Vertere" is also the source of "version," "convert," and "reverse," so the word belongs to a large family of turning words in English. The adjective "invertible" was first used in mathematics, where it describes an operation or element that has an inverse, such as a matrix that can be undone by another matrix. That technical sense is the main reason the adjective is in common use, and the noun "invertibleness" is a later and much rarer extension of it. Because "-ness" nouns are formed freely from adjectives, English speakers can create one whenever they need to name the quality directly. The noun is uncommon in general use. Most writers prefer "invertibility," which follows the same pattern with the suffix "-ity" and is the more standard form in mathematics and logic.

Synonyms: reversibility, turnability

Antonyms: irreversibility