Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use overturn in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Overturn means to turn over, capsize or upset. Example: “"collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.”

Examples of overturn by meaning

verbTo turn over, capsize or upset.

  • Its engine also overturned and 15 more wagons were added to the mounting pile of wreckage.1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232
  • We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33

verbTo reverse (a decision); to overrule or rescind.

  • In a report for the Sun on Sunday, Barak claimed that Andrew is consulting lawyers about overturning that settlement.2023 January 22, Matthew Weaver, “Ghislaine Maxwell calls Prince Andrew photo with Virginia Giuffre ‘a fake’”, in The Guardian
  • It’s unfortunate that the court has overturned his conviction.2024 April 27, Maya Yang, quoting Rosanna Arquette, “Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hospitalized”, in The Observer...

More sentences with overturn

  • "collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.From the entry upset
  • A dust devil may look harmless, but a large one can overturn a car.From the entry dust devil
  • The road is blocked by an overturned truck, and cars can't pass through.From the entry through
  • The broken window and overturned plant pots were a tip-off that something was wrong.From the entry tip-off
  • The truck overturned while carrying a full load of oil.From the entry load
  • I hope the court overturns his verdict.From the entry verdict
  • The divorce court was overturned when it rendered a criminal conviction against a party, because it lacked the subject matter jurisdiction to hear a criminal case.From the entry subject matter jurisdiction
  • Many of the coaches behind it overturned and careered into an adjacent field.2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 39. From the entry career
  • Even the successful battle in the last century to overturn the court’s infamous Plessy vs.2021 July 29, Harry Litman, “Column: Mississippi’s abortion brief dynamites standing law and ‘super duper’ precedents”, in The Los Angeles…. From the entry dynamite
  • GM is a measure of the vessel's ability to right itself when experiencing an overturning moment.2017 December 12, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.12 Stability Information - 1.12.1 Concepts”, in Marine Accident Report: Sinking…. From the entry metacentre
  • "The Master's Society wishes to overturn the world order into his hands by devilry and chaos.2016 August 9, Leanna Renee Hieber, Eterna and Omega: The Eterna Files #2, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 239. From the entry devilry
  • Big fuss for nothing. — It might get overturned, but it gets ink along the way.2014 February, John Mankiewicz, House of Cards, season 2, episode 6. From the entry get ink
  • It was also recently overturned in Hamilton, the fourth most populous city in New Zealand.2013 August 9, Douglas Main, “Israel Outlaws Water Fluoridation”, in Live Science, retrieved 30 Sep 2013. From the entry fluoridation
  • Additionally all rulings in the revolutionary and clerical courts are final and cannot bebreak; overturned.2008, Dr Yonah Alexander, Milton M. Hoenig, The New Iranian Leadership. From the entry bebreak
  • By using Tantalos as an illustration, the play overturns the apparent meaning of the gnome.2003, Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, Tragedy and Athenian Religion, page 386. From the entry gnome
  • Three of the hives had been overturned and the others had been rocked to and fro.1958, John Crompton, A Hive of Bees. From the entry skep
  • It pulled up with a mighty plunging of horses at the overturned chaise.1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 20. From the entry chaise
  • Both locomotives of No. 40 were overturned and the club car was wrecked.1926 July, “Fourteen Passengers Killed at Gray, Pa. General News column”, in Railway Electrical Engineer, volume 17, number 7, page 236. From the entry club car
  • The failure on Wednesday to overturn Mr.2019 May 6, Richard Fausset, “North Carolina Legislature Fails to Overturn Governor’s Veto of Anti-Abortion Bill”, in The New York Times. From the entry veto
  • Paradoxology permeates life with a unifying spirit, even where paradox interrupts, overturning our expectations, messing up our plans.2015, Miriam Therese Winter, Paradoxology: Spirituality in a Quantum Universe. From the entry paradoxology
  • So tightly bunched were her balls out there it looked like someone had overturned a bucket of eggs.2014 January 14, Bruce Grierson, “12: Shadows”, in What Makes Olga Run: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach…. From the entry egg
  • That was the spot where the van had overturned one evening when this road was a mud bath.2011, Eric de la Harpe, Crossing the Rubicon: A Journey in the Time of Apartheid, page 347. From the entry mud bath
  • The emerging picture of acanthodian (and perhaps placoderm) paraphyly does not overturn a general consensus about gnathostome interrelationships.2009 January 15, Martin D. Brazeau, “The braincase and jaws of a Devonian 'acanthodian' and modern gnathostome origins”, Nature Volume 457…. From the entry acanthodian
  • The institute reported that its tests showed the CJ-5 would overturn when performing a J-turn at just 22 mph.2001, Carl T. Bogus, Why Lawsuits are Good for America: Disciplined Democracy, Big Business, and the Common Law, New York University…. From the entry J-turn
  • For other hull shapes than Wigley, the hull splash itself may overturn and merge with a breaking wave.1997, National Research Council, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and…. From the entry hull splash
  • A freak accident during basic training left his son crushed beneath the body of an overturned supply truck.1996, George W. Proctor, Before Honor, page 39. From the entry freak accident
  • Tables were overturned, glasses crashed to the ground.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 47”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC. From the entry scrimmage
  • Before the attack started, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, decried efforts by his fellow Republicans to overturn the results of the election.2021 January 7, “Trump Is to Blame for Capitol Attack”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
  • “Marriage equality would not only overturn the natural order, but it would also shake the very foundation of society and humanity,” read the ruling.2021 December 3, “LGBTQ couples, families and marriage are ‘against the natural order,’ Thai Constitutional Court rules”, in Coconuts…. From the entry marriage equality
  • “The 14th Amendment was designed to overturn this decision and define citizenship once and for all, and it was based on birthright,” Rosen says.2018 October 31, AJ Willingham, “Understanding the 14th Amendment”, in CNN. From the entry rosen
  • And the remains of Joe's dinner—an underwarmed hamburger paired with shoestring fries—dotted the landscape in front of the stove, overturned in their too-brief struggle.2016, Brian Michael Bendis, Powers: The Secret History of Deena Pilgrim. From the entry underwarm
  • Some computer models allow periods of convection dominated by plumes, and others dominated by overturning planiform cells similar to the present Earth.2014, Timothy M. Kusky, Encyclopedia of Earth Science, page 94. From the entry planiform
  • A woman found guilty of a nightclub glassing which left an Australian singer's career in tatters has had her conviction overturned on appeal.2009 July 10, The Age. From the entry glassing
  • However, helicopter engines are on their rooves, and depending on the sea conditions and how badly they crashed, they can overturn easily.2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 39. From the entry rooves
  • While returning home from Haskell, John drove upon his friend, Wilda Medford, who had misnegotiated Red Hill and his car had overturned.2005, Johney Larned, Though Silent They Speak: The Larned Family History, page 258. From the entry misnegotiate
  • SI thinks the egregiosities deserve their appeal as well, but they don't say what happens if the league overturns a suspension that's already been served.1996 October 10, NawrockiT, “3 Strikes on the Umpires”, in rec.sport.baseball (Usenet). From the entry egregiosity

Meaning of overturn

  1. verb To turn over, capsize or upset.
  2. verb To overthrow or destroy.
  3. verb To reverse (a decision); to overrule or rescind.

Full definition of overturn

Questions about overturn in a sentence

How do you use overturn in a sentence?
Overturn is used as a verb and noun. For example: “"collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.”
What is a short sentence with overturn?
“I hope the court overturns his verdict.”
What does overturn mean?
Overturn means to turn over, capsize or upset.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overturn (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use overturn in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/overturn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.