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📜 To cancel officially 🔄 To flip over 🏛️ To remove from power 🔁 To change completely 🚤 A flipping over
to overturn

to overturn

12 6.3
Remove a leader or government from power, often by force
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərˈtɜrn/
translation icon : derrocar
  • Constitutional amendments, even those designed to overturn court rulings, are themselves subject to judicial construction.
  • overturn the regime
  • overturn the government

So if you can't break that change that illicit defections there, you can't overturn him.

Examples

  • Protesters gathered to demand that the president's administration be overturned after controversial policies were enacted.

  • And he really sympathizes with these people that committed crimes at the United States Capitol and tried to overturn a free and fair election.

  • And in far as I'm concerned, he belongs in jail because people died that day on an insurrection to overturn our government.

  • Unjust governments and laws have been overturned without violence, but never without resistance.

    Blog text (13)

  • The terms of this remaking were clear: reform governance and overturn the aristocracy.

    Academic text (2017)

  • The social structure must be violently overturned in order for the cycles of deception and destruction to end.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Moreover, the United States must learn to rebuild states after overturning their regimes, or the whole enterprise will backfire.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The court's decision aimed to overturn the previous ruling that many believed was unjust.

  • A military coup was necessary to overturn the corrupt regime that had been in power for years.

Synonyms

to bring down
vsto overturn
128 4.6

To make a leader or government lose power

focuses more on forcing change rather than the idea of defeat
to overthrow
vsto overturn
127 5.1

To remove a leader or government from power, often by force

is identical in meaning and also stresses forceful removal
to oust
vsto overturn
80 6.2

To remove someone from power, often suddenly or by force

covers removal by any means and does not require sudden timing
to usurp
vsto overturn
34 8.6

To take power or a position from someone without the right, often by force

focuses on removing those in power rather than seizing their place
to depose
vsto overturn
31 7.4

To remove a leader from office, often by force

is broader, meaning removal of those in power generally, not only office holders
to unseat
vsto overturn
19 6.2

Remove someone from a position of power, often in politics

is wider, applying to any authority figure beyond elected or political seats
to dethrone
vsto overturn
5 6.7

To remove a king or queen from power and their position

applies to rulers in general, not only to hereditary monarchs
to revolutionize
vsto overturn
1 7.3

Remove a government by force and put new leaders in charge

may happen by force or other means and does not require a revolution
to decrown
vsto overturn
9.7

To remove someone, especially a king or queen, from power

is broader, covering removal of leaders beyond royal contexts

Antonyms

to reinstate
110 5.8

To return a person or thing to a previous position like a job

How Forceful

to overturn
12 6.3
to overthrow
127 5.1
to topple
93 4.1
to depose
31 7.4
to oust
80 6.2
to remove
∞ 1.5

Surface Forms

overturn infinitive
overturned past
overturned past participle
overturning present participle
overturns third person singular

Morphology

overturn = turn (semi-transparent) = over + turn

While built from 'over-' + 'turn', the political sense 'remove from power' is a figurative extension and requires extra world knowledge to infer.

Etymology

Overturn is formed from over- ('over' or 'away') and turn ('to change position'), so to overturn a government is to 'turn it over' and remove those in power, often by force or a big change.