to overturn
- verb
- /ˌoʊvərˈtɜrn/
- The strong winds caused the boat to overturn in the stormy sea.
- overturn a car
- overturn a boat
This was in front of the house now the crib overturned, splattered with blood, a child's toy still inside.
- This was in front of the house now the crib overturned, splattered with blood, a child's toy still inside.
- He looks up at plant roots, overturned, bristling from the Bank of earth.
- The beasts are frightened and then sobriety, after the chariot is overturned, strikes the death blow by hurling a great stone that she finds nearby.
Examples
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If I'd let go of the overturned skiff, I'd have died myself.
Fiction book (1993) -
A carriage overturned.
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We all moved into the lee of an overturned boat to escape the wind.
Fiction book (1990) -
There are two police vehicles that are overturned.
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The boat was overturned and I was beneath it, but I managed to get clear.
Academic text (2012) -
The car overturned in a deep pond and immediately filled with water.
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"Time for dessert," I say, and leap up from the table, overturning my chair.
Fiction book (1990) -
Only five men made it back to the surface to cling to the overturned hull.
Academic text (2013) -
in other news, in Painted Hills today, an overturned vehicle was discovered by hikers passing by.
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There's an overturned tractor-trailer causing a one-hour delay at the Lincoln Tunnel.
Synonyms
To move something so it leans or falls to one side
Make something fall by hitting or bumping it
Make something fall over or move out of place
Turn something so the side that was up is now down
Flip something so the other side faces up
To turn your body or an object so the other side faces up
Turn something upside down, inside out, or change its usual order
Make something fall from a standing position
Turn something so one end points up
To knock something so it falls over
To turn something so its bottom faces up
To make something tilt so far that it falls over
To make something that stands fall over
To make something fall over or turn upside down
To flip over so the bottom becomes the top, often about boats or cars
Antonyms
How Turned
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Overturn comes from the parts over- (giving the sense 'over' or 'completely') and turn ('to move or flip'). So to overturn something in a physical way is literally to 'turn it over' so it becomes upside down.