Noun joy and its obverse, sadness We thought they would be pleased with our decision. We have learned, however, that the obverse is true.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Another Goodacre design, the obverse (front side) of the Sacagawea dollar, was carried in the pocket of millions of Americans after the gold coin went into circulation in 2000, replacing the Susan B. Anthony dollar. Harrison Smith, BostonGlobe.com, "Glenna Goodacre, artist who sculpted Vietnam Women’s Memorial, dies at 80," 17 Apr. 2020

With their pea protein isolates, their gum arabic and yeast extracts, these new foods are the opposite of whole foods, the obverse of transparent sourcing. Washington Post, "Inside the little-known world of flavorists, who are trying to make plant-based meat taste like the real thing," 4 Nov. 2019

Hot-air balloons are the obverse of modern aeronautical advances, the beautiful black sheep to the success story of the airplane. María Gainza, Harper's magazine, "Both Sides Now," 10 May 2019

The rule of raw power is the obverse of the rule of law. WSJ, "Haspel, the CIA, Government and Morality," 23 May 2018

Rental apologies, the obverse of rental scoldings, can be particularly thorny. Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, "Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry," 23 Apr. 2018

In one of the adjacent rooms, coin dealer Donald Kagin of Tiburon was displaying his treasure: the plain obverse quint, first coin ever minted by the United States. Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle, "George Shultz is honored, pays tribute to Alexander Hamilton," 13 Jan. 2018

But the conviction that the truth must be mathematically elegant can easily lead to a false obverse: that what is mathematically elegant must be true. The Economist, "Particle physicsFundamental physics is frustrating physicists," 13 Jan. 2018

If the commonwealth’s argument was that each defendant shared in a collective guilt, the defense case was the obverse: that this was a tragedy of the commons. Benjamin Wallace, vanityfair.com, "How a Fatal Frat Hazing Became Penn State’s Latest Campus Crisis," 3 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'obverse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.