con|ver|sion

con|ver|sion «kuhn VUR zhuhn, -shuhn», noun.

1. the act or process of converting; a changing or turning; change: »

Heat causes the conversion of water into steam. Scientists are working on the conversion of salt water into fresh water.

2. the change from one belief to another or from lack of belief to faith; change from one religion, political party, or other group founded upon belief to another: »

Ordinarily we identify conversion with rapid changes of religious conviction, but the same process may occur in other areas of experience (Ogburn and Nimkoff).

3. an exchange for an equivalent: »

the conversion of feet into inches or pounds into dollars.

4. Law. a) the act of taking and using unlawfully: »

Taking over, using, or selling another person's property without his permission is conversion.

b) a change in the nature of property, such as from real to personal: »

the conversion of land into money by selling it.

5. in football or Rugby: a) a kick, pass, or run, to score a point or points after a touchdown. b) one or two extra points scored after a touchdown: »

Cole's conversion made it 9-8 and thus the game was wide open again (Sunday Times).

6. Mathematics. a change of a number or quantity into another denomination; reduction.

7. Logic. the transposition of subject and predicate in a proposition: »

The proposition “no good man is unhappy” gives us by conversion “no unhappy man is good.”

8. the exchanging of an issue of public securities, bonds, or stocks for another, usually carrying a lower rate of interest.

9. Psychiatry. the development of physical symptoms of illness as a relief from a repressed mental conflict, with the symptoms acting as symbols of the mental conflict.