overthrow

What it means

1. transitiveTo bring about the downfall of (a government, etc.), especially by force; to usurp.

   I hate the current government, but not enough to want to overthrow them.

   5 more examples

   Here's Gloſter, a Foe to Citizens, / One that ſtill motions Warre, and neuer Peace, / O're-charging your free Purſes with large Fines; / That ſeeks to ouerthrow Religion, / Becauſe he is Protector of the Realme; […]

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 99, column 2

   Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.

   1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 71

   Wickedness often overthrows the health of the sinner. Go to the hospital, and see how many have ruined their health by their course of life. That drunkard. That glutton. That debauchee. Nine-tenths of the suffering from disease originates in the wickedness of the sinner.

   1856, Jabez Burns, “LXVIII. The Ruinous Effects of Sin.”, in Cyclopedia of Sermons: […], New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, page 104

   Violence directed specifically at the regime in power, such as coups d'etat also often fail to attain the threshold of civil wars. While such conflicts often involve the armed forces of the society, coups d'etat are more explicitly extralegal executive transfers aimed at overthrowing the sitting regime's leaders.

   1999, Errol A. Henderson, “Civil Wars”, in Lester Kurtz, editor, Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict, volumes I (A–E), San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, section I (Definition of Civil War), page 279, column 2

   “America voted for mass deportations,” White House adviser Stephen Miller posted Wednesday on X. He added that the demonstrators in Los Angeles are “trying to overthrow the results of the election.”

   2025 June 11, Aaron Blake, “Americans voted for deportations. They didn’t necessarily vote for this.”, in CNN

   Synonyms: overturn, oust, subvert

2. archaictransitiveTo throw down to the ground, to overturn.

   And he [Jesus] made a ſcourge off ſmale cordes / and drave thē all out off the temple / bothe ſhepe and oxen / ãd powred doune the changers money / and overthrue their tables.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Jhon ij:[15], folio cxxi, verso

   3 more examples

   Pittacus was a wiſe and valiant man, but his wife overthrew the Table when he had invited his friends: upon which the good man to excuſe her incivility and his own miſfortune, ſaid, That every man had one evil, and he was moſt happy that had but that alone; […]

   1650, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Christian Sobriety”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], London: Printed [by R. Norton] for Richard Royston […], →OCLC; The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 5th corrected edition, London: Printed for Richard Royston […], 1656, →OCLC, section VI (Of Contentedness in All Estates and Accidents), page 161

   I have no parents, friends, nor brothers left; / By ſtern Achilles all of life bereft. / Then when the walls of Thebes he overthrew, / His fatal hand my royal father ſlew; / He ſlew Aetion, but deſpoil'd him not; / Nor in his hate the funeral rites forgot; […]

   a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache. From the Sixth Book of the Iliad.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, pages 451–452

   [W]hen they have found the Trees on which they [the elk] lean, they cut and ſaw them, ſo that when the Elk comes, he overthrows the Tree and falls with it; and being unable to riſe, is ſo taken alive.

   [1780?], Nicholas Coxe, “A Short Account of Some Particular Beasts that are Hunted in Foreign Countries”, in The Huntsman. […], London: Printed for J. Dixwell, […], →OCLC, page 118

In a sentence

I hate the current government, but not enough to want to overthrow them.

Where it comes from

1. Middle Englishoverthrow
2. Middle Englishoverthrowen
3. Englishoverthrow

From Middle English overthrowen, equivalent to over- + throw. Compare Dutch overdraaien, German überdrehen, Old English oferweorpan (“to overthrow”). For the noun sense, compare Middle English overthrow, overthrowe (“destruction, downfall”), from the verb.