Library / English Dictionary

OVERTURN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An improbable and unexpected victory

Example:

the biggest upset since David beat Goliath

Synonyms:

overturn; upset

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("overturn" is a kind of...):

success (an attainment that is successful)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of upsetting something

Example:

he was badly bruised by the upset of his sled at a high speed

Synonyms:

overturn; turnover; upset

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("overturn" is a kind of...):

inversion; upending (turning upside down; setting on end)

Derivation:

overturn (turn from an upright or normal position)

overturn (cause to overturn from an upright or normal position)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Change radically

Example:

E-mail revolutionized communication in academe

Synonyms:

overturn; revolutionise; revolutionize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "overturn" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Rule against

Example:

The Republicans were overruled when the House voted on the bill

Synonyms:

override; overrule; overthrow; overturn; reverse

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "overturn" is one way to...):

decree; rule (decide with authority)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cancel officially

Example:

vacate a death sentence

Synonyms:

annul; countermand; lift; overturn; repeal; rescind; reverse; revoke; vacate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "overturn" is one way to...):

cancel; strike down (declare null and void; make ineffective)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overturn"):

go back on; renege; renege on; renegue on (fail to fulfill a promise or obligation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Turn from an upright or normal position

Example:

The canoe tumped over

Synonyms:

overturn; tip over; tump over; turn over

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "overturn" is one way to...):

turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)

Verb group:

bowl over; knock over; overturn; tip over; tump over; turn over; upset (cause to overturn from an upright or normal position)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overturn"):

capsize; turn turtle; turtle (overturn accidentally)

upend (become turned or set on end)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

These cars won't overturn

Derivation:

overturn (the act of upsetting something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause to overturn from an upright or normal position

Example:

he tumped over his beer

Synonyms:

bowl over; knock over; overturn; tip over; tump over; turn over; upset

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "overturn" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Cause:

overturn; tip over; tump over; turn over (turn from an upright or normal position)

Verb group:

overturn; tip over; tump over; turn over (turn from an upright or normal position)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

overturn (the act of upsetting something)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cause the downfall of; of rulers

Example:

subvert the ruling class

Synonyms:

bring down; overthrow; overturn; subvert

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "overturn" is one way to...):

depose; force out (force to leave (an office))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overturn"):

revolutionize (overthrow by a revolution, of governments)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

The team's findings overturn a prevailing model of evolution, which holds that the key criteria for animals' access to an island are its size and its distance from the colonizing animals' source territory.

(Fossil discovery adds to understanding of how geological changes affected evolution of mammalian life, National Science Foundation)

The two prevailing theories include eruptions, which spread lava flows over a large area, or overturning waves of lava.

(Massive Lava Waves Detected on Solar System’s Most Volcanically Active Object, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

If I loved a man, as she loves the Admiral, I would always be with him, nothing should ever separate us, and I would rather be overturned by him, than driven safely by anybody else.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

John Thornton was eating dinner when Buck dashed into camp and sprang upon him in a frenzy of affection, overturning him, scrambling upon him, licking his face, biting his hand—playing the general tom-fool, as John Thornton characterized it, the while he shook Buck back and forth and cursed him lovingly.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

And if he can't live there, he'll die there, sooner than he'll overturn the Doctor's plans.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The overturned chair, hurled onward in the mad whirl, lay near him.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Growling savagely, White Fang sprang out of the corner, overturning the boy and the girl.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Observations also showed that the overturning was initiated at different times on the two sides of the cool island at the center of the patera, hinting at complex geological process beneath the surface.

(Massive Lava Waves Detected on Solar System’s Most Volcanically Active Object, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The frog lay concealed till I was put into my boat, but then, seeing a resting-place, climbed up, and made it lean so much on one side, that I was forced to balance it with all my weight on the other, to prevent overturning.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Well, well, ma'am, said the Doctor cheerfully, I am not bigoted to my plans, and I can overturn them myself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)