SUBVERTED Synonyms: 75 Similar and Opposite Words

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

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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 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 Last year, the struggle ended—or, at least, got subverted. — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 26 May 2026 New York Tendaberry, released in the fall of 1969, mostly consists of Nyro alone at the piano, delivering songs that eschewed and subverted most of the characteristics that had won her attention and adoration throughout the preceding decade. — Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 24 May 2026 Kardashian subverted expectations at the 2021 Met Gala by arriving in a face-covering body stocking by Balenciaga. — Catherine Santino, PEOPLE, 2 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for subverted

Verb

The unsightly mushroom could have corrupted her maids’ morals, or even their health.

— Leah Hudson, Popular Science, 9 July 2026
If religion is corrupted by breaking down the wall of separation, much the same is true of the state.

— Kenneth Seeskin, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026

Definition of corrupted

Verb

Iran has been degraded by over 13,000 strikes, but has survived and reconstituted, rather than suffering a mortal blow.

— Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 17 July 2026
Preserving the forests that remain, while restoring those that have been degraded, may ultimately prove far more valuable than chasing ever-larger tree-planting targets alone.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 14 July 2026

Definition of degraded

Verb

Researchers, educators, and policymakers questioned whether broadcasting encouraged juvenile delinquency, weakened family relationships, and gave governments and media organizations unprecedented influence over public opinion.

— Michael Edmondson, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Hochul, who weakened the state’s climate goals and signed off on new gas pipelines, is again an example.

— Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 21 July 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

Zelenskyy said their relationship had deteriorated so badly that the two could no longer work together, but provided little additional explanation for removing Fedorov.

— Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 20 July 2026
In the ensuing decades after District 33 absorbed McAuley, the McAuley building deteriorated, with no significant maintenance done to it and no use other than for records and equipment storage.

— Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 20 July 2026

Definition of deteriorated

Verb

The Fijians were tough and clinical in a huge turnaround from last weekend when they were humiliated by England 73-8 in Liverpool.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 July 2026
The campaign of strikes, mostly targeting oil refineries and other energy infrastructure, has humiliated the Kremlin, snarled the logistics of its military, and forced many millions of Russians to suffer through rampant shortages of fuel.

— Simon Shuster, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026

Definition of humiliated

Verb

Attackers are also targeting AI solutions themselves with prompt injection attacks, poisoned datasets and other increasingly advanced tactics.

— Peter Garraghan, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
Later, when Saeng-gang and her mother leave the palace to hide Saeng-gang’s spirit-hearing abilities, the mother is poisoned by treats sent from the palace.

— Kayti Burt, Time, 17 July 2026

Definition of poisoned

Verb

Residents of one village in the Gironde region of France returned to find their homes charred and destroyed by the wildfire which has ripped through them.

— Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 26 July 2026
Yet with a lack of funds, officials halted further work, leaving the stands partially destroyed and deserted.

— Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 25 July 2026

Definition of destroyed

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subverted

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“Subverted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subverted. Accessed 26 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of subverted

verb

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