subverted

verb

past tense of subvert
as in corrupted
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

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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 subverted Laws and elections can quickly shift the balance of power in the game, and the rules can be subverted or twisted to your advantage through the deft deployment of crushing bureaucracy. — Alan Bradley, Space.com, 14 Aug. 2026 That's because when the stakes are high, and the actors begin to cry, the serious tone begs to be subverted by a humorous caption. — Owen Carry, USA Today, 11 Aug. 2026 What could be a stock campus ice-queen role is subverted throughout the season, through the empathy for the character that courses through her performance. — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 27 July 2026 Ireland sought to slow down the match but New Zealand subverted that tactic, forcing turnovers and kicking only sparingly. — ABC News, 18 July 2026 The Sedition Act of 1918, which subverted the Bill of Rights, imposed penalties for anti-government expression. — Steve H. Hanke, Fortune, 1 July 2026 Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith’s screenplay is littered with exaggerated stereotypes just waiting to be boisterously subverted. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 29 June 2026 One day after Zendaya subverted her usual high-fashion fare by wearing a $35 T-shirt from eBay, the 29-year-old actress dipped into a different type of archive on June 25. — Juliana Ukiomogbe, InStyle, 25 June 2026 But Raman — whose husband is veteran 30 Rock writer and producer Vali Chandrasekaran — has quietly subverted her showy target in a way befitting that series. — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 6 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subverted
  1. corrupted
  2. degraded
  3. weakened
  4. perverted
  5. deteriorated
  6. humiliated
  7. poisoned
  8. destroyed
Verb
  • Schumer has been corrupted absolutely in his quest for power.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Thomas Mann—who later changed his mind on such matters—believed that Germany in the First World War was fighting for its unique national soul against a shallow materialist Western civilization corrupted by rationalism.
    — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupted
Verb
  • China’s limited farmland has been degraded by overcultivation and excessive use of fertilizers, for instance.
    — Caitlin Welsh, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The filing argued the sequence of testing was critical because Othram's single nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP, testing requires DNA that has not already been depleted or degraded through prior analysis.
    — Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of degraded
Verb
  • The ultimate effect of Fedorov appeal to everyone’s better angels, is that Zelensky is weakened, the questions of his electoral legitimacy amplified, and the call for an end to the war bolstered.
    — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Positions have hardened, trust has weakened and the room for quiet resolution has narrowed.
    — Sean Pattwell, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of weakened
Verb
  • More important to Bernstein is what that lust reveals about her characters’ deepest needs, specifically how their need to care and be cared for can be as easily perverted as any other form of desire.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 9 July 2026
  • Georgia Bernstein’s unsettling directorial debut focuses on how warped and perverted those desires become when they’re taken to their insatiable extremes.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 8 July 2026
Definition of perverted
Verb
  • Doctors admitted him to the hospital, but his condition only deteriorated.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 12 Aug. 2026
  • In the provincial capital Pontianak, schools suspended in-person classes after air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels and health officials reported a rise in respiratory illnesses.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of deteriorated
Verb
  • After being publicly humiliated by Daemon Targaryen and lured to switch sides (with his dragon) to the Greens by Ormund Hightower, party animal Ulf is still drunk and MIA when the battle starts.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Each action can increase the pressure on the person being humiliated.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of humiliated
Verb
  • The types of crimes weren’t spelled out, but imagine that a President, say, poisoned his estranged spouse and concealed the crime until after leaving the White House.
    — Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
  • In addition to the 10 discovered last weekend, two trees were found poisoned in late July and four more in May, Raymore said.
    — Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of poisoned
Verb
  • Some 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with a third destroyed over the Moscow region itself.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026
  • An airstrike destroyed a house in Ansar town, killing seven people and wounding three others on Saturday morning, NNA said.
    — Tim Lister, CNN Money, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of destroyed

Browse Nearby Words

subvert
subverted
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Cite this Entry

“Subverted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subverted. Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of subverted for Spanish Speakers

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