1. Acting against, or in a contrary direction; opposed; contrary; opposite; conflicting; as, adverse winds; an adverse party; a spirit adverse to distinctions of caste. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Opposite. “Calpe's adverse height.” Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. In hostile opposition to; unfavorable; unpropitious; contrary to one's wishes; unfortunate; calamitous; afflictive; hurtful; as, adverse fates, adverse circumstances, things adverse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Happy were it for us all if we bore prosperity as well and wisely as we endure an adverse fortune. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

Adverse possession (Law), a possession of real property avowedly contrary to some claim of title in another person. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Averse; reluctant; unwilling. See Averse. [ 1913 Webster ]

The tracks averse a lying notice gave,
And led the searcher backward from the cave. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having a repugnance or opposition of mind; disliking; disinclined; unwilling; reluctant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Averse alike to flatter, or offend. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men who were averse to the life of camps. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pass by securely as men averse from war. Micah ii. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The prevailing usage now is to employ to after averse and its derivatives rather than from, as was formerly the usage. In this the word is in agreement with its kindred terms, hatred, dislike, dissimilar, contrary, repugnant, etc., expressing a relation or an affection of the mind to an object. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Averse, Reluctant, Adverse. Averse expresses an habitual, though not of necessity a very strong, dislike; as, averse to active pursuits; averse to study. Reluctant, a term of the of the will, implies an internal struggle as to making some sacrifice of interest or feeling; as, reluctant to yield; reluctant to make the necessary arrangements; a reluctant will or consent. Adverse denotes active opposition or hostility; as, adverse interests; adverse feelings, plans, or movements; the adverse party. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. With repugnance or aversion; unwillingly. [ 1913 Webster ]

To seek the distant hills, and there converse
With nature. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conversing with the world, we use the world's fashions. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

But to converse with heaven -
This is not easy. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To engage in familiar colloquy; to interchange thoughts and opinions in a free, informal manner; to chat; -- followed by with before a person; by on, about, concerning, etc., before a thing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Companions
That do converse and waste the time together. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

We had conversed so often on that subject. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To have knowledge of, from long intercourse or study; -- said of things. [ 1913 Webster ]

According as the objects they converse with afford greater or less variety. Locke.

Syn. -- To associate; commune; discourse; talk; chat. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T is but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Familiar discourse; free interchange of thoughts or views; conversation; chat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Formed by thy converse happily to steer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It should not (as is often done) be confounded with the contrary or opposite of a proposition, which is formed by introducing the negative not or no. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) A proposition in which, after a conclusion from something supposed has been drawn, the order is inverted, making the conclusion the supposition or premises, what was first supposed becoming now the conclusion or inference. Thus, if two sides of a sides of a triangle are equal, the angles opposite the sides are equal; and the converse is true, i.e., if these angles are equal, the two sides are equal. [ 1913 Webster ]

The word . . . is used in a sense very diverse from its original import. J. Edwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our roads are diverse: farewell, love! said she. R. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of various forms; multiform. [ 1913 Webster ]

Eloquence is a great and diverse thing. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

The redcross knight diverst, but forth rode Britomart. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

How diversely love doth his pageants play. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In different directions; to different points. [ 1913 Webster ]

On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Opposite in order, relation, or effect; reversed; inverted; reciprocal; -- opposed to direct. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Inverted; having a position or mode of attachment the reverse of that which is usual. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) Opposite in nature and effect; -- said with reference to any two operations, which, when both are performed in succession upon any quantity, reproduce that quantity; as, multiplication is the inverse operation to division. The symbol of an inverse operation is the symbol of the direct operation with -1 as an index. Thus sin-1 x means the arc or angle whose sine is x. [ 1913 Webster ]

Inverse figures (Geom.), two figures, such that each point of either figure is inverse to a corresponding point in the order figure. --
Inverse points (Geom.), two points lying on a line drawn from the center of a fixed circle or sphere, and so related that the product of their distances from the center of the circle or sphere is equal to the square of the radius. --
Inverse ratio, or
Reciprocal ratio (Math.), the ratio of the reciprocals of two quantities. --
Inverse proportion, or
Reciprocal proportion, an equality between a direct ratio and a reciprocal ratio; thus, 4 : 2 : : 1/3 : 1/6, or 4 : 2 : : 3 : 6, inversely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus the course of human study is the inverse of the course of things in nature. Tatham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Inversely proportional. See Directly proportional, under Directly, and Inversion, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything necessarily involved in, or answering to, another; the more apparent or conspicuous of two possible sides, or of two corresponding things. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fact that it [ a belief ] invariably exists being the obverse of the fact that there is no alternative belief. H. Spencer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The most expert gamesters may sometimes oversee. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your partiality to me is much overseen, if you think me fit to correct your Latin. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To superintend; to watch over; to direct; to look or see after; to overlook{ 2 }. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To omit or neglect seeing; to overlook{ 5 }. [ archaic ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To see unintentionally or unexpectedly; -- the visual analogy to overhear. [ PJC ]

One whose beauty
Would oversell all Italy. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To sell beyond means of delivery. [ Brokers' Cant ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Oversold market (Brokers' Cant), a market in which stocks or commodities have been sold “short” to such an extent that it is difficult to obtain them for delivery. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An excess; superfluity. [ Obs. ] “This overset of wealth and pomp. ” Bp. Burnel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cause to fall, or to fail; to subvert; to overthrow; as, to overset a government or a plot. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To fill too full. [ Obs. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The only righteous in a world perverse. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Obstinate in the wrong; stubborn; intractable; hence, wayward; vexing; contrary. [ 1913 Webster ]

To so perverse a sex all grace is vain. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Froward; untoward; wayward; stubborn; ungovernable; intractable; cross; petulant; vexatious. -- Perverse, Froward. One who is froward is capricious, and reluctant to obey. One who is perverse has a settled obstinacy of will, and likes or dislikes by the rule of contradiction to the will of others. [ 1913 Webster ]