Subvert
verb
Destroy or damage something, especially an established system.
They planned to subvert the government.
Often appears as...
- subvert the system
- subvert the government
verb
Change or modify the meaning or interpretation of a law, right, or statement to mean the opposite of what it was intended.
The court subverted the meaning of the law to their advantage.
Often appears as...
- subvert the law
- subvert the constitution
Usage tips
Formal
Legal
verb
Turn away from what is considered normal or acceptable.
He aims to subvert traditional ideas about art.
Often appears as...
- subvert ideas
- subvert norms
Usage tips
Artistic, Academic
verb
Destroy or damage something, especially an established system.
They planned to subvert the government.
Often appears as...
- subvert the system
- subvert the government
verb
Change or modify the meaning or interpretation of a law, right, or statement to mean the opposite of what it was intended.
The court subverted the meaning of the law to their advantage.
Often appears as...
- subvert the law
- subvert the constitution
Usage tips
Formal
Legal
verb
Turn away from what is considered normal or acceptable.
He aims to subvert traditional ideas about art.
Often appears as...
- subvert ideas
- subvert norms
Usage tips
Artistic, Academic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Used when someone aims to weaken or overthrow authority or systems.
Activists can subvert oppressive regimes through protest.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Negative
Sometimes, 'subvert' can indicate innovation or positive change.
She subverted our expectations by using recycled materials creatively.
Pro Tip 3/3Context Sensitive
Consider if 'subvert' fits the situation; it's forceful and may imply conspiracy.
They didn't just disagree, they sought to subvert the committee's efforts.
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Used when someone aims to weaken or overthrow authority or systems.
Activists can subvert oppressive regimes through protest.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Negative
Sometimes, 'subvert' can indicate innovation or positive change.
She subverted our expectations by using recycled materials creatively.
Pro Tip 3/3Context Sensitive
Consider if 'subvert' fits the situation; it's forceful and may imply conspiracy.
They didn't just disagree, they sought to subvert the committee's efforts.
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Used when someone aims to weaken or overthrow authority or systems.
Activists can subvert oppressive regimes through protest.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Negative
Sometimes, 'subvert' can indicate innovation or positive change.
She subverted our expectations by using recycled materials creatively.
Pro Tip 3/3Context Sensitive
Consider if 'subvert' fits the situation; it's forceful and may imply conspiracy.
They didn't just disagree, they sought to subvert the committee's efforts.
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Video examples
How do you know what's...
Some might find this frustrating because the plot subverts expectations of how mysteries usually end. But by refusing to provide a clear answer, these two artists capture the messiness and complexity of truth and human memory. Neuroscientists have found that when we form a memory, our interpretation of visual information is influenced
Video examples
Ed Yong: Suicidal wasps,...
And I've been writing about these creatures ever since. Few topics in biology enthrall me more. It's like the parasites have subverted my own brain. Because after all, they are always compelling and they are delightfully macabre. When you write about parasites, your lexicon swells with phrases like
Video examples
How we take back the...
which was specifically targeted by the Bullrun program, we will live a less safe world overall. We won't be able to access our banks and we won't be able to access commerce without worrying about people monitoring those communications or subverting them for their own ends.
Video examples
Johanna Blakely: Lessons...
No protection. Or is it a physically fixed expression of an something that somebody made and they deserve to own it for a while and make money from it? The problem is that digital technology has completely subverted the logic of this physically fixed, expression
Video examples
The rise of modern...
But this is where assertive, modern populist candidates can subvert democracy. Modern populists identify themselves as embodying the "will of the people," and they place those interests above the institutions that protect individual and social rights.
Video examples
A video game to cope...
Players expect their video games to offer them branching narrative so that every decision that they make feels important and can change the outcome of the game. We subverted that principle of game design, collapsing the choices in on the player
Video examples
Albino Squirrels in...
ones the pride of the city by changing their uniforms these white grey squirrels have successfully subverted humans to their cause albino squirrels are usually rare but only has the biggest concentration in the world they've survived here for
Video examples
Helping others makes us...
Spending money helping others doesn't necessarily promote happiness. Instead, it matters how we do it. And if we want people to give more, we need to subvert the way we think about charitable giving. We need to create opportunities to give
Video examples
Words Are the Most...
give a self expression and collective knowledge they have a dark side these tools are so powerful that they distort our very perception of reality they can subvert and corrupt and even manipulate
Video examples
Barry Schwartz: Our loss...
Get smarter incentives. The truth is that there are no incentives that you can devise that are ever going to be smart enough. Any incentive system can be subverted by bad will.
Video examples
How do you know what's...
Some might find this frustrating because the plot subverts expectations of how mysteries usually end. But by refusing to provide a clear answer, these two artists capture the messiness and complexity of truth and human memory. Neuroscientists have found that when we form a memory, our interpretation of visual information is influenced
Video examples
Ed Yong: Suicidal wasps,...
And I've been writing about these creatures ever since. Few topics in biology enthrall me more. It's like the parasites have subverted my own brain. Because after all, they are always compelling and they are delightfully macabre. When you write about parasites, your lexicon swells with phrases like
Video examples
How we take back the...
which was specifically targeted by the Bullrun program, we will live a less safe world overall. We won't be able to access our banks and we won't be able to access commerce without worrying about people monitoring those communications or subverting them for their own ends.
Video examples
Johanna Blakely: Lessons...
No protection. Or is it a physically fixed expression of an something that somebody made and they deserve to own it for a while and make money from it? The problem is that digital technology has completely subverted the logic of this physically fixed, expression
Video examples
The rise of modern...
But this is where assertive, modern populist candidates can subvert democracy. Modern populists identify themselves as embodying the "will of the people," and they place those interests above the institutions that protect individual and social rights.
Video examples
A video game to cope...
Players expect their video games to offer them branching narrative so that every decision that they make feels important and can change the outcome of the game. We subverted that principle of game design, collapsing the choices in on the player
Video examples
Albino Squirrels in...
ones the pride of the city by changing their uniforms these white grey squirrels have successfully subverted humans to their cause albino squirrels are usually rare but only has the biggest concentration in the world they've survived here for
Video examples
Helping others makes us...
Spending money helping others doesn't necessarily promote happiness. Instead, it matters how we do it. And if we want people to give more, we need to subvert the way we think about charitable giving. We need to create opportunities to give
Video examples
Words Are the Most...
give a self expression and collective knowledge they have a dark side these tools are so powerful that they distort our very perception of reality they can subvert and corrupt and even manipulate
Video examples
Barry Schwartz: Our loss...
Get smarter incentives. The truth is that there are no incentives that you can devise that are ever going to be smart enough. Any incentive system can be subverted by bad will.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Natasha Rothwell
American Actress
When someone on screen portrays a character that behaves in a way you don't expect, you're subverting ideas. So if there's a Venn diagram between why people are drawn to the characters I play, it may be that. But I'd like to think that the craft of acting and the choices I make as an actor are drawing people on their own merits.
Quote examples
Douglas Murray
Fanatics end by subverting their own argument. For instance, animal rights activists have some point, and many people feel sympathy with them. But animal rights fanatics do not have a point. They are the sort of people who threaten human beings in their effort to 'defend' animals.
Quote examples
Alex Gibney
American Director
I am furious at the way that we have allowed money to subvert our democracy. I am appalled at the way that the U.S., a very wealthy nation, permits and even encourages a level of poverty that other wealthy nations would not even consider.
Quote examples
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Filipino Statesman
In the area of national security, I urge the swift passage of an anti-terrorism law that will protect rather than subvert, enhance rather than weaken, the rights and liberties that terrorism precisely threatens with extinction.
Quote examples
Thomas Frank
American Author
Money never seems to be interested in strengthening regulatory agencies, for example, but always in subverting them, in making them miss the danger signs in coal mines and in derivatives trading and in deep-sea oil wells.
Quote examples
Kate McKinnon
American Actress
It's much easier for me to do an impression of someone real, because you and the audience begin with a baseline understanding of this person's life. And then if you subvert that in any way, it's a little comedy surprise.
Quote examples
William H. Seward
American Statesman
If slavery, limited as it yet is, now threatens to subvert the Constitution, how can we as wise and prudent statesmen, enlarge its boundaries and increase its influence, and thus increase already impending dangers?
Quote examples
Paul Watson
Canadian Environmentalist
I don't think that any government has a right to subvert the truth or to cover up the truth, and all I see WikiLeaks doing is exposing the truth.
Quote examples
Kevin Shelley
American Politician
While I have made errors that I deeply regret, I have never, ever done so with the intent of subverting the law or of benefiting myself.
Quote examples
Lisa Joy
American Director
We subverted the entire premise of 'Westworld' in that our sympathies are meant to be with the robots, the hosts.
Quote examples
Natasha Rothwell
American Actress
When someone on screen portrays a character that behaves in a way you don't expect, you're subverting ideas. So if there's a Venn diagram between why people are drawn to the characters I play, it may be that. But I'd like to think that the craft of acting and the choices I make as an actor are drawing people on their own merits.
Quote examples
Douglas Murray
Fanatics end by subverting their own argument. For instance, animal rights activists have some point, and many people feel sympathy with them. But animal rights fanatics do not have a point. They are the sort of people who threaten human beings in their effort to 'defend' animals.
Quote examples
Alex Gibney
American Director
I am furious at the way that we have allowed money to subvert our democracy. I am appalled at the way that the U.S., a very wealthy nation, permits and even encourages a level of poverty that other wealthy nations would not even consider.
Quote examples
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Filipino Statesman
In the area of national security, I urge the swift passage of an anti-terrorism law that will protect rather than subvert, enhance rather than weaken, the rights and liberties that terrorism precisely threatens with extinction.
Quote examples
Thomas Frank
American Author
Money never seems to be interested in strengthening regulatory agencies, for example, but always in subverting them, in making them miss the danger signs in coal mines and in derivatives trading and in deep-sea oil wells.
Quote examples
Kate McKinnon
American Actress
It's much easier for me to do an impression of someone real, because you and the audience begin with a baseline understanding of this person's life. And then if you subvert that in any way, it's a little comedy surprise.
Quote examples
William H. Seward
American Statesman
If slavery, limited as it yet is, now threatens to subvert the Constitution, how can we as wise and prudent statesmen, enlarge its boundaries and increase its influence, and thus increase already impending dangers?
Quote examples
Paul Watson
Canadian Environmentalist
I don't think that any government has a right to subvert the truth or to cover up the truth, and all I see WikiLeaks doing is exposing the truth.
Quote examples
Kevin Shelley
American Politician
While I have made errors that I deeply regret, I have never, ever done so with the intent of subverting the law or of benefiting myself.
Quote examples
Lisa Joy
American Director
We subverted the entire premise of 'Westworld' in that our sympathies are meant to be with the robots, the hosts.
Example 1 of 10
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