A change that goes in the opposite direction of what was happening before; turning something around completely.
From 'reverse' (Latin 'reversus', from 'vertere' meaning to turn) plus the suffix '-al', which forms nouns from verbs. The root 'vert' appears in turn-related words like 'convert', 'divert', and 'revert'.
In law and drama, a 'reversal of fortune' is a classic narrative device—the sudden turn that destroys the protagonist. The concept is so fundamental to storytelling that it appears across cultures, from Greek tragedies to modern film, because audiences find the sudden flip psychologically compelling.
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