Subversion
//sʌ̈bˈvɝ.ʒən// noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The act of subverting; overturning; flipping from beneath. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 2 A revision considered more similar to preceding subversions than a revision deemed a new "version" is to preceding versions.
- 3 the act of subverting; as overthrowing or destroying a legally constituted government wordnet
- 4 The act of overthrowing a government or a ruler; dethronement. countable, uncountable
- 5 destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 The condition of being subverted. countable, uncountable
- 7 A systematic attempt to overthrow a government by working from within; undermining. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"The work of the Greek historian, Polybius, originally in forty volumes, of which only five remain entire, covered a period from the downfall of the Macedonian power to the subversion of Grecian liberty by the Romans in 146 B.C."
Etymology
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English subversion, subversioun, from Old French subversion.
Etymology 2
From sub- + version.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.