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
  • Scott the aesthete, the creator of indelible images and ethereal moods who was unafraid to linger in beauty, even when that beauty was corrupted.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
  • As a result, the notion of utopia became increasingly associated with the sci-fi genre, while the idea of creating a perfect social order here on earth was corrupted by totalitarian regimes.
    — Carline Tromp, The Dial, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupted
Verb
  • The invasion has raised European willingness to spend more on defense, and the fighting has badly degraded Russia’s armed forces.
    — JENNIFER KAVANAGH, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Russia’s subsequent full-scale invasion has largely degraded into a battlefield stalemate, with Moscow’s and Kyiv’s forces vying for the upper hand, though the two sides have recently intensified their aerial attacks on one another.
    — Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of degraded
Verb
  • Airstrikes have weakened the regime militarily but strengthened its standing internally.
    — Nate Swanson, Foreign Affairs, 25 Aug. 2026
  • That mechanism has weakened substantially since the global financial crisis, and particularly since 2020.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 25 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
  • The Associated Press OSLO, Norway -- Crown Prince Haakon visited his father King Harald of Norway on Monday at the hospital, after the king's health deteriorated over the weekend, public broadcaster NRK reported.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Her defense says she was prescribed 13 medications over four months as her mental health deteriorated.
    — Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of deteriorated
Verb
  • In their first national title game, the Wildcats humiliated Oklahoma in the national semifinal by 44, and in their second, demoralized Michigan in the title game by 17.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of humiliated
Verb
  • Glutathione is processed in sterile compounding pharmacies, and there have been cases of people getting poisoned due to contamination at these facilities, Sack said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Aug. 2026
  • Patterson was accused of pretending to eat the same portion, and of feigning illness in an elaborate ruse to suggest she’d also been poisoned.
    — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of poisoned
Verb
  • The fire started in the 2300 block of Pickett Road and destroyed five structures, according to Cal Fire.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Almost 50 homes and other structures have been destroyed so far; there have been several injuries, and one of Tibbetts’s neighbors lost 20 German shepherds.
    — Anya Kamenetz, Curbed, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of destroyed

Browse Nearby Words

subvert
subverted
subverter
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Cite this Entry

“Subverted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subverted. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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