Overthrow

How to spell overthrow

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce overthrow

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overthrow mean?

1. verbTo remove a ruler, government, or system from power, usually by force.
2. nounThe act of removing a government or leader from power, especially by force.

Overthrow in a sentence

• verb

  The rebels planned to overthrow the corrupt regime within weeks.

• noun

  Historians still debate the causes of the king's sudden overthrow.

• verb

  A small group of officers tried to overthrow the elected leader.

• noun

  The documentary traced the violent overthrow of the military junta.

Where does overthrow come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound, built from the prefix over-, meaning 'beyond' or 'to the point of toppling', and the verb throw, which descends from the Old English thrawan, originally meaning 'to turn or twist' rather than 'to hurl'. The sense of hurling developed later, and by the Middle English period overthrow had come to mean literally 'to throw down' or 'to cast to the ground'. From that physical image of knocking something flat grew the familiar political sense of toppling a ruler or government from power. The spelling is mercifully transparent once you see it as two everyday words joined together; the only trap is remembering it is written solid, with no hyphen and a single shared 'r' that belongs to throw, not to over.

How the word is built

• over- (prefix: above, beyond, to excess)
• throw (Old English thrawan: to turn, twist, hurl)