Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Facing or turned toward the observer.
- adjective Serving as a counterpart or complement.
- noun The side of a coin, medal, or badge that bears the principal stamp or design.
- noun The more conspicuous of two possible alternatives, cases, or sides.
- noun Logic The counterpart of a proposition obtained by exchanging the affirmative for the negative quality of the whole proposition and then negating the predicate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Specifically, in logic, the contranominal of the inverse of a proposition.
- Turned toward (one); facing: opposed to reverse, and applied in numismatics to that side of a coin or medal which bears the head or more important inscription or device.
- In botany, having the base narrower than the top, as a leaf.
- noun   In numismatics, the face or principal side of a coin or medal, as distinguished from the other side, called the reverse. See numismatics , and cuts under maravedi, medallion, and merk.
- noun Hence A second aspect of the same fact; a correlative proposition identically implying another.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun   The face of a coin which has the principal image or inscription upon it; -- the other side being the reverse .
- noun Anything necessarily involved in, or answering to, another; the more apparent or conspicuous of two possible sides, or of two corresponding things.
- adjective Having the base, or end next the attachment, narrower than the top, as a leaf.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective   Turned or facingtoward theobserver .
- adjective   Corresponding ;complementary .
- noun   The heads side of acoin , or the side of amedal orbadge that has theprincipal design .
- noun logic  The double negative of astatement e.g. All men are mortal => No man is immortal
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the more conspicuous of two alternatives or cases or sides
- noun the side of a coin or medal bearing the principal stamp or design
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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								On the obverse is an image of eagles destroying a nest of snakes at the foot of a ruined tower, at the top of which is a nest of eaglets. 
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								On the obverse is a full-length representation of Liberty wearing long, flowing robes, seated on a rock, and head turned back to her right. 
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								On the obverse is a full-length representation of Liberty wearing long, flowing robes, seated on a rock, and head turned back to her right. Liberty Seated Quarter, No Motto, No Drapery, 1838-1840 : Coin Guide 2009 
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								While its obverse is sharper than that of the Husak S-12, its strike and surface quality are not quite as impressive as the Husak S-12 1793 Liberty Cap. Even so, as it is so difficult to find 1793 Liberty Caps that grade Fine-15 or higher, this Very Fine grade Holmes S-12 is particularly appealing for a 1793 Liberty Cap and I would recommend it. 
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								The obverse is dominated by a left-facing somewhat determined portrait of a native American chief wearing a full-feathered war bonnet. 
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								The obverse is true of Vietnam, which over a longer period saw 9 million men in uniform, less than a third of the draft-eligible males in the pool, selected out largely on the basis of education or lack of it. The Draft 1980 
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								The obverse is true of Vietnam, which over a longer period saw 9 million men in uniform, less than a third of the draft-eligible males in the pool, selected out largely on the basis of education or lack of it. The Draft 1980 
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								The face we call the obverse is entirely occupied by the body of a fantastic quadruped, partly chiselled in slight relief, partly engraved. A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1 Georges Perrot 1873 
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								Longacre’s classical left-facing Liberty on the obverse is said to be modeled after an old Hellenistic sculpture, the Crouching Venus. Liberty Head Double Eagle, Without Motto, 1849-1866 : Coin Guide 2009 
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								The left facing, wings outstretched in-flight eagle on the obverse is from Christian Gobrecht’s 1836 Liberty Seated obverse. 
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