Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To destroy completely; ruin: "schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community” ( Alexander Hamilton).
- v. To undermine the character, morals, or allegiance of; corrupt.
- v. To overthrow completely: "Economic assistance ... must subvert the existing ... feudal or tribal order” ( Henry A. Kissinger). See Synonyms at overthrow.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
- v. transitive To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound.
- v. transitive To upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath).
- n. An advertisement created by subvertising.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
- v. To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound.
- v. To overthrow anything from the foundation; to be subversive.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cause the downfall of; of rulers
- v. destroy property or hinder normal operations
- v. corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
- v. destroy completely
Etymologies
- Back-formation from subvertising, by analogy with advert. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English subverten, from Old French subvertir, from Latin subvertere : sub-, sub- + vertere, to turn. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I'm more of the 'likes to subvert from the inside' kind of guy.”
“It is possible that leaderless 5GW will included meme-driven individuals infiltrating cultural institutions with the intent to long-term subvert them and redirect them to opposite goals.”
“To subvert is not the aim of literature, its value lies in discovering and revealing what is rarely known, little known, thought to be known but in fact not very well known of the truth of the human world.”
“The idea that transgender identities and expression subvert the gender binary did much to increase transgender-inclusion within feminist and queer spaces.”
“By the first, Drucker seems to mean the incorporation of images, motifs, and sensibilities from mass culture only to "subvert" these references by using them to implicitly critique the insipidity of mass culture.”
“My use of modal notions in triadology cannot be said to "subvert" a doctrine whose relevant sense, never mind whose normativity, hasn't even been established.”
“And if indeed it is a consequence of the teaching thus denominated that necessity is not "predicable of God ad intra," then I can indeed be said to "subvert" that teaching too.”
“ADDED: Andrew Sullivan endorses voting for Sanjaya on the vote for the worst concept because he wants to "subvert" the "far too self-important show.”
“Thus, I would guess such a system would devolve into a bridge burning wasteland as everyone signs up to the "subvert" faction.”
“He blamed the country's economic crisis on a white plot and accused Western embassies here of trying to "subvert" his regime.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘subvert’.
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 94 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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Words from Blood Meridian
visage, affray, scullery, miasma, mirth, purlieu, tacit, benighted, wickiup, corral, amble, accoutre and 210 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
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Culture Jamming
appropriate, subvertise, adbust, detournement, carnivalesque, remix, mashup, critical, protest, subvertisement, adbusting, disrupt and 47 more...
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Filter 1
Hard words level 1
besotted, altricial, consecrate, consternate, desuetude, detractor, dissolute, divisive, emaciated, enamored, ensconce, garishly and 76 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Words
Words.
fnord, THEY, ExorcisE, subvert, conspiracy, chupacabra, snollygoster, 2+3
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
Tweets
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