Subvert

//səbˈvɜːt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An advertisement created by subvertising.
Verb
  1. 1
    To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly. transitive

    "He […] razeth your cities, and subverts your towns."

  2. 2
    to raze to the ground, also figuratively wordnet
  3. 3
    To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound. transitive

    "The oppressive regime stays in power only as long as they manage to subvert the will of the people."

  4. 4
    cause the downfall of; of rulers wordnet
  5. 5
    To upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath). transitive
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    destroy property or hinder normal operations wordnet
  2. 7
    corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
overthrowcorruptcorruptdebauchdemoralizeoverthrow

Example

More examples

"Alana, stop trying to subvert the company goals."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English subverten, from Old French subvertir, from Latin subvertō (“to overthrow”, literally “to underturn, turn from beneath”).

Etymology 2

Back-formation from subvertising, by analogy with advert.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.