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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of subvert
The anime auteur responsible for Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo has been rewriting the rules of anime music since the ’90s, subverting tropes, reimagining genres, and weaving together disparate signifiers from the past and future to tell deeply affecting stories that speak to our present.
—
Matthew Ismael Ruiz, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
Policies that ignore any of these realities will subvert U.S. economic security, not protect it.
—Aroop Mukharji, Foreign Affairs, 14 Mar. 2025
Project 2025 is explicitly derived from the processes used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to subvert his country’s democracy and by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to subvert the inchoate democratic movement after the fall of the Soviet Union.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2025
With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.
—Charlotte Collins, Architectural Digest, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subvert
Matthew Ismael Ruiz, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
Policies that ignore any of these realities will subvert U.S. economic security, not protect it.
—Aroop Mukharji, Foreign Affairs, 14 Mar. 2025
Project 2025 is explicitly derived from the processes used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to subvert his country’s democracy and by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to subvert the inchoate democratic movement after the fall of the Soviet Union.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2025
With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.
—Charlotte Collins, Architectural Digest, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subvert
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subvert
Verb
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Yields usually fall when fear is dominating markets, but their surprising earlier rise stirred fears that Trump’s trade war was degrading the U.S. bond market’s status as one of the world’s safest places to keep cash.—
Stan Choe,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Apr. 2025
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Unlike many other archaeological sites in Sweden, where acidic soil degrades organic material, Strandvägen’s conditions have allowed organic material to survive for many years, as Gummesson tells the publication.—
Sonja Anderson,
Smithsonian Magazine,
24 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Agreeing to a pick swap with the Lynx weakened the value of the pick that the Sky traded away.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2025
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One by one, the sectors defect, and, eventually, the leader may weaken and their government may fall.—
Julia Angwin,
New Yorker,
12 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Stuart Miller, Boynton Beach Seven memorable words Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
14 Apr. 2025
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The show followed an ensemble of one-percenters at the titular resort in Hawaii, observing how their privilege blinds them to reality and corrupts everyone around them, leading to conflicts, cruelty, and, eventually, violence.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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More than half a dozen tornadoes have been confirmed, including one in Marshall County, Oklahoma, that left two homes completely destroyed and damaged about 20 others.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
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Fans of the franchise will remember that the Battle of Exegol was the climactic showdown between the Resistance and the First Order, which ended with the Sith being destroyed once and for all.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
People.com,
20 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Shawn reluctantly agrees, but is humiliated when Cory starts acting corny around his friend Gambling Dan (Phil Buckman), and his lackey, Louie (Weiss).—
EW.com,
EW.com,
16 Apr. 2025
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He must be seen standing up to foreign oppressors who seek to humiliate China and thwart its rightful rise.—
Michael Schuman,
The Atlantic,
11 Apr. 2025
Verb
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His illuminating backstage account of cable news describes thoughtful journalists debasing themselves in their scramble to retain straying viewers.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
The New Yorker,
20 Jan. 2025
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This is what distinguishes bitcoin from every other modern financial asset – like gold, it cannot be debased by fiat or easily censored.—
Dave Birnbaum,
Forbes,
13 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Morgan was previously married to Keith Whitley from 1986 to his alcohol poisoning death in 1989 at age 34.—
Rachel DeSantis,
People.com,
17 Apr. 2025
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Scores of sea lions and dolphins have been fatally poisoned in recent months by domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by harmful algal blooms.—
Corinne Purtill,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The plain and active meaning of the word cannot be diluted by its constriction, as the government would have it, to a narrow term of art.—
TIME Staff,
Time,
18 Apr. 2025
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This approach dilutes your unique value proposition and distracts from your primary purpose.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
16 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subvert.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subvert. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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