Word.ws English Dictionary

subvert

/səbˈvɜːt/US/səbˈvɝt/

subvert verb: to overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
    • He […] razeth your cities, and subverts your towns.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]...
    • , Book IV, Chapter XVIII
      This would be to subvert the principles and foundations of all knowledge.
  2. (transitive) To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound.
    • The oppressive regime stays in power only as long as they manage to subvert the will of the people.
  3. (transitive) To upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath).

Noun

UK/ˈsʌbvət/US/ˈsʌbvɚt/

subvert (plural subverts)

  1. An advertisement created by subvertising.
    Synonyms:
    subvertisement

subvert meaning in Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

subvert in Bengali

উৎখাত করা, ধ্বংস করা

subvert in Malayalam

subvert
അട്ടിമറിക്കുക aṭṭimaṟikkuka

subvert in Kannada

ಬುಡಮೇಲು ಮಾಡು, ವಿಧ್ವಂಸಕ ಕೃತ್ಯ ನಡೆಸು, ನಾಶಗೊಳಿಸು, ಪತನಗೊಳಿಸು, ಧರ್ಮ ವಿದ್ರೋಹಿಯಾಗು, ದೇಶ ವಿದ್ರೋಹಿಯಾಗು

Examples of subvert in a sentence

  • The Sultan of Brunei effectively subverted a constitutional monarchy into an absolute monarchy by implementing a perpetual state of emergency.
  • Any attempt by an entrant to influence the result or subvert the contest will lead to immediate disqualification.
  • The fancy word for this kind of amorality is “instrumentalism,” and it subverts the rule of law.

All 18 example sentences with subvert

Synonyms of subvert

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of subvert

Forms of subvert

Verb
third-person singular presentsubverts
present participlesubverting
past participlesubverted
pastsubverted
Noun
pluralsubverts

Past tense of subvert: subverted

Origin of subvert

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

Back-formation from subvertising, by analogy with advert.

Words formed from subvert

Words that rhyme with subvert

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about subvert

What does subvert mean?
Subvert means to overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
What is subvert in Bengali?
Subvert in Bengali is উৎখাত করা, ধ্বংস করা. See Subvert meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is subvert?
Subvert can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce subvert?
Subvert is pronounced /səbˈvɜːt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of subvert?
The past tense of subvert is subverted.

Words near subvert in the dictionary

  1. subversively
  2. subversiveness
  3. subversives
  4. subversivism
  5. subverst
  6. subvert
  7. subvertable
  8. subvertebral
  9. subverted
  10. subverter
  11. subverters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: subvert (page history and authors); subvert (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); അട്ടിമറിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); subvert (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-subvert (verb).wav.

Cite this entry: “subvert.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/subvert. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.