Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Obverse

Obverse (ob*vẽrs") , adjective

[Latin obversus, past participle of obvertere. See Obvert.]

Having the base, or end next the attachment, narrower than the top, as a leaf.

Obverse (ob"vẽrs) , noun

[Compare French obverse, obvers. See Obverse, a.]

1.
The face of a coin which has the principal image or inscription upon it; -- the other side being the reverse.
2.
Anything necessarily involved in, or answering to, another; the more apparent or conspicuous of two possible sides, or of two corresponding things.
The fact that it [a belief] invariably exists being the obverse of the fact that there is no alternative belief. — H. Spencer