subvert
nounUK /ˈsʌbvət/ · US /ˈsʌbvɚt/
Etymology Back-formation from subvertising, by analogy with advert.
1
An advertisement created by subvertising.
- Synonyms
- subvertisement
subvert
verbUK /səbˈvɜːt/ · US /səbˈvɝt/
Etymology From Middle English subverten, from Old French subvertir, from Latin subvertō (“to overthrow”, literally “to underturn, turn from beneath”).
1
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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
- , Book IV, Chapter XVIII This would be to subvert the principles and foundations of all knowledge.
2
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
To upturn convention from the foundation by undermining it (literally, to turn from beneath).
- Derived terms
- resubvert, subversion, subversive, subvertable, subvertible, subvertingly, unsubverted