as in to degrade
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
by insisting that she pay me for helping her, she subverted my noble desire to do a good deed without reward
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of subvert
All of it—having children because her husband wanted them, putting her career on hold to tend pear trees in a midwestern suburb—might come across as out of character for Smith, who spent her formative years subverting traditional gender roles.
—
Amy Weiss-Meyer, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2025
Kon subverts slasher tropes and nimbly toys with reality, constantly upending audience expectations and keeping us on our toes.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
The film, which screenwriter Rowan Joffé adapted from a 2014 novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne, seems aware of the orientalist mustiness of this premise without being compelled to subvert it in any meaningful way.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
At a time when homages to retro Latin genres have become a cliché, Como Las Canto Yo succeeds by subverting expectations.
—Ernesto Lechner, Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subvert
Amy Weiss-Meyer, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2025
Kon subverts slasher tropes and nimbly toys with reality, constantly upending audience expectations and keeping us on our toes.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
The film, which screenwriter Rowan Joffé adapted from a 2014 novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne, seems aware of the orientalist mustiness of this premise without being compelled to subvert it in any meaningful way.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
At a time when homages to retro Latin genres have become a cliché, Como Las Canto Yo succeeds by subverting expectations.
—Ernesto Lechner, Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subvert
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subvert
Verb
-
Mirrors have poor reflectivity and degrade fast, while normal lenses absorb XUV light and stretch the attosecond pulses, blurring their precision.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Wallin points out that half of the world’s GDP, amounting to $44 trillion, is directly dependent on nature, yet the essential systems that support economic stability continue to be degraded.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
With some estimates putting wave heights as much as 35 feet, weakened hatch covers would have been vulnerable to such waves.—
Stephen J. Beard,
USA Today,
7 Nov. 2025
-
The years of horrific violence have weakened Sudan, plunging its institutions into chaos and making its population more vulnerable and poorer.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
But Strummer always had a puritanical zeal about his punk mission and a terror of getting corrupted by fame.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Elites stirred up a now familiar moral panic about commerce corrupting letters and mocked Grub Street even as its writers built the first modern freelance economy and mass-print culture.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
So, automation can be used to destroy labor or workers’ power, but it can also be used in the opposite direction.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
-
Homes, businesses and synagogues were destroyed.—
Arizona Republic,
AZCentral.com,
9 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Strummer was humiliated by the whole album.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
9 Nov. 2025
-
The Heat’s next two games comes against a Cavaliers team that humiliated Miami out of the first round of the playoffs last season.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Is Alec Bloom’s seemingly sincere political schmoozing meaningfully different from arts-nonprofit-director Gary Pidgeon debasing himself to coax money from donors?—
Sophie Brookover,
Vulture,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Within this world no others exist, except as things to be debased.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The Brit List script, which treads the line between black comedy and drama, is set in the early 20th Century Hungary where a village knitting club takes it upon themselves to poison their abusive husbands with arsenic.—
Diana Lodderhose,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
-
People who are rude or unaware with receptionists can poison your culture, create unnecessary hierarchies, and drive your best people to leave.—
Jessica Neal,
CNBC,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Bleach should never be used on a mattress, even if it's diluted.—
Ashlyn Needham,
Southern Living,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Without the requirement to protect majority-minority districts, Republicans would have far greater freedom to redraw congressional maps in ways that dilute the voting power of Black and other minority communities—areas that tend to favor Democrats.—
Mandy Taheri,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subvert.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subvert. Accessed 14 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share