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
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Recent Examples of subvert
But watch more of these videos, and an extensive lore starts to unfold around Chit that deepens the jokes and subverts the narrative.
—
Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 24 July 2025
Brooks’ handle on the genre is obvious, and so too is her ability to subvert it, poke fun at it, send it up in style.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 23 July 2025
Girl, 1983 is still more deft in its experiments, subverting conventional ideas about fiction’s use of the truth.
—Rachel Vorona Cote, The Atlantic, 15 July 2025
The lineup features dramas, comedies, documentaries, thrillers, horror science fiction and several films that subvert the conventions of genre like Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind and Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subvert
Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 24 July 2025
Brooks’ handle on the genre is obvious, and so too is her ability to subvert it, poke fun at it, send it up in style.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 23 July 2025
Girl, 1983 is still more deft in its experiments, subverting conventional ideas about fiction’s use of the truth.
—Rachel Vorona Cote, The Atlantic, 15 July 2025
The lineup features dramas, comedies, documentaries, thrillers, horror science fiction and several films that subvert the conventions of genre like Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind and Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subvert
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subvert
Verb
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Although Israel did not fully eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, its air campaign delayed, degraded, and deterred Iran’s ambitions, and further transformed the Middle East’spolitical landscape.—
DAVID A. DEPTULA,
Foreign Affairs,
11 Aug. 2025
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They are also believed to degrade water quality, which can hurt sensitive organisms like freshwater mussels.—
Madeline Heim,
jsonline.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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For Trump, whose political brand has long relied on projecting authenticity to his base, a sustained decline in honesty ratings could weaken his ability to roll out his agenda.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Aug. 2025
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This means banana particles can remain between teeth for an extended period, giving bacteria more time to produce acids that weaken tooth enamel.14 6.—
Lindsay Curtis,
Verywell Health,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The chances that the data would be corrupted three times is very unlikely, Kinget points out.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
10 Aug. 2025
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Jefferson and his supporters understood that such mixing of church and state corrupted both.—
Time,
Time,
10 July 2025
Verb
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Protective sand dunes could be inundated and destroyed, which could lead to severe flooding inland, National Park Service officials at Cape Hatteras National Seashore warned Monday.—
Briana Waxman,
CNN Money,
19 Aug. 2025
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Large dangerous waves will likely inundate and destroy protective dune structures.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
19 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Luthor’s ultimate defeat is an unmasking that humiliates him by confirming his own worst fears about himself.—
Matt Zoller Seitz,
Vulture,
16 July 2025
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Coach Ruben Amorim publicly humiliated him before a loan move to Aston Villa for the final half of the campaign.—
Zak Garner-Purkis,
Forbes.com,
20 July 2025
Verb
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Among many methods deployed, the most common was to debase the circulating coins and inflate the money supply.—
Dave Birnbaum,
Forbes.com,
4 July 2025
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Read More: The Battle for Our Memory Is the Battle for Our Country But debasing our history through censorship and ideological cherry-picking insults the memory of the nine saints who were murdered at Mother Emanuel, desecrating its sacred space all over again.—
Kevin Sack,
Time,
3 June 2025
Verb
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According to physicians, a 60-year-old man with no prior psychiatric or medical history arrived at their hospital’s emergency room claiming a neighbor poisoned him.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
14 Aug. 2025
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One variation poisoned the 1930s: a country would devalue its currency to supposedly gain a competitive advantage against its trading partners.—
Steve Forbes,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
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To the transcendental artist these conventional interpretations of reality are emotional and rational constructs devised by man to dilute or explain away the transcendental.—
Roy Scranton
August 20,
Literary Hub,
20 Aug. 2025
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As brands attempt to expand campaigns across multiple publishers, consistency becomes harder to maintain, and operational inefficiencies start to dilute performance.—
Harshit Jain,
Forbes.com,
19 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subvert.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subvert. Accessed 25 Aug. 2025.
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