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conversely inversely

OhMan

Member
English, AUS
< Topic: conversely, inversely. Cagey, moderator. >

What is the difference in meaning between these two words? Or are they completely synonymous with each other?

Thanks in advance,
OhMan.
Last edited by a moderator:
'Inversely' is normally used for numbers or amounts: one thing is high or large when the other thing is low or small. The volume of a gas varies inversely with the pressure. Unemployment and inflation are often inversely related.

'Conversely' often begins the sentence, and describes a situation where some factors are changed around from their previous mention. Increasing employees' pay would make them happier at work. Conversely, reducing their pay would make them care less about their job.
It seems to me fundamentally immoral to base your behaviour based on fear of punishment, or inversely, desire for some external reward.

What about this one?
That feels like a converse to me: there's only variation along one scale, the reward/punishment scale. If the behaviour varied along a scale too, you could have an inverse relationship: the more you give to charity, the less you fear eternal punishment.
Alright thanks.
Think of "conversely" to mean "on the other hand" and "inversely" to mean "the opposite."

That should make it clearer, but conversely, I sometimes confuse people. 👁 Wink ;)
Why thank you.
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