subvert

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

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

Pronunciation edit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /səbˈvɜːt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(US) enPR: səbvûrtʹ, IPA^(key): /səbˈvɝt/
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

Verb edit

subvert (third-person singular simple present subverts, present participle subverting, simple past and past participle subverted)

(transitive) To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
  He […] razeth your cities, and subverts your towns.
- 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
  , Book IV, Chapter XVIII
  This would be to subvert the principles and foundations of all knowledge.
(transitive) To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound.
A dictator stays in power only as long as he manages to subvert the will of his people.
(transitive) To upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath).