countermand vs reverse

countermand

verb
  • To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given. 

  • To recall a person or unit with such an order. 

  • To counteract, to act against, to frustrate. 

  • To cancel an order for (some specified goods). 

noun
  • An order to the contrary of a previous one. 

reverse

verb
  • To revoke a law, or to change a decision into its opposite. 

  • To transpose the positions of two things. 

  • To engage reverse thrust on (an engine). 

  • To cause a mechanism or a vehicle to operate or move in the opposite direction to normal. 

  • To turn something around so that it faces the opposite direction or runs in the opposite sequence. 

  • To change totally; to alter to the opposite. 

  • To place (a set of points) in the reverse position. 

  • To change the direction of a reaction such that the products become the reactants and vice-versa. 

  • To move from the normal position to the reverse position. 

  • To overthrow; to subvert. 

  • To turn something inside out or upside down. 

noun
  • The act of going backwards; a reversal. 

  • A thrust in fencing made with a backward turn of the hand; a backhanded stroke. 

  • The opposite of something. 

  • The gear setting of an automobile that makes it travel backwards. 

  • The tails side of a coin, or the side of a medal or badge that is opposite the obverse. 

  • A turn or fold made in bandaging, by which the direction of the bandage is changed. 

  • A piece of misfortune; a setback. 

  • The side of something facing away from a viewer, or from what is considered the front; the other side. 

adj
  • Pertaining to engines, vehicle movement etc. moving in a direction opposite to the usual direction. 

  • Turned upside down; greatly disturbed. 

  • In which cDNA synthetization is obtained from an RNA template. 

  • Reversed. 

  • Opposite, contrary; going in the opposite direction. 

  • To be in the non-default position; to be set for the lesser-used route. 

How often have the words countermand and reverse occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )