Subversive

How to spell subversive

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce subversive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does subversive mean?

1. adjectiveSeeking or intended to undermine or overturn an established system, authority, or set of beliefs.
2. nounA person who tries to undermine or overthrow an established authority or institution.

Subversive in a sentence

• adjective

  The magazine published a subversive critique of the new tax laws.

• noun

  The regime branded every journalist a dangerous subversive.

• adjective

  Managers worried that the leaked memo was deliberately subversive.

• noun

  The old files labelled him a subversive for organising the protest.

Where does subversive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb subvertere, which combined sub-, meaning 'under' or 'from below', with vertere, meaning 'to turn'. Literally it described turning something over from underneath, hence overthrowing or completely upending it. The later Latin adjective subversivus carried the idea of 'tending to overturn', and it passed into English through French in the fifteenth century, at first describing the ruin or overthrow of buildings and institutions. Over time the sense narrowed toward the political and moral undermining of established authority, order, or belief. The same vertere root, the part that means 'to turn', also powers a large family of English words including convert, reverse, version, and divert, which is a useful reminder that the middle of subversive is spelled with -vers- and not -verce-.

How the word is built

• sub- (under, from below)
• vers (from Latin vertere: to turn)
• -ive (adjective/noun suffix)