Definition of overthrow in English:

overthrow

See synonyms for overthrow

Translate overthrow into Spanish

transitive verboverthrew, overthrown

[with object]

1Remove forcibly from power.
‘military coups which had attempted to overthrow the King’
- ‘Didn't you just say a military general who comes to power by forcibly overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate leader?’
- ‘When the powers that be were overthrown, the rebels took their vengeance out on the Jews, whom they saw as collaborators with the former regime.’
- ‘Spain and Portugal lost most of their colonies - some falling to rival European powers, but most overthrown by revolution among their settler-descended populations.’
- ‘In Japan the supreme warlord or Shogun, who had capitulated to the western powers, was overthrown and the Meiji Emperor restored to full authority in 1868.’
- ‘Consequently, the invocation of self-determination, as the means to justify overthrowing an alien governing power, was traditionally considered to be a political, as opposed to a legal, tool.’
- ‘For instance, overthrowing the dictator obviously removed him as a threat.’
- ‘Soon, we had enough power to totally overthrow the System.’
- ‘The power to overthrow Tarak might not be found for some time.’
- ‘Once she has been turned, she will have the power to overthrow Queen Andromache, and she will come forth as the new Queen of our race.’
- ‘In a secret alliance with the Guild of Commerce, the two powers overthrew the other Guilds and left the refugees to scatter across the continent.’
- ‘One who's leader simply wanted to overthrow the Emperor for power.’
- ‘The Venezuelan president has often said the United States supports opposition attempts to overthrow him.’
- ‘All are nations blessed with vast mineral wealth but suffering from ongoing attempts to overthrow their internationally recognized governments.’
- ‘She also stressed the role of people power in overthrowing two former dictators in the Philippines in the last 15 years.’
- ‘There used to be that question asking whether you planned to subvert the constitution, overthrow the Federal Government or whatever.’
- ‘By February 1917 revolution overthrew the Russian Tsar and brought the working class to power, led by the Bolsheviks in October.’
- ‘The leaders, the kings of Saudi Arabia, were worried that if they let the clerics get more power behind the scenes, then they could be overthrown in the same way the Shah was in Iran.’
- ‘He bequeathed power to his third wife Isabel, but she was overthrown by another military coup in 1976.’
- ‘During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries increasingly smaller oligarchies came to power in the Swiss cantons but were overthrown in 1798 in the wake of the French Revolution.’
remove, remove from office, remove from power, bring down, bring about the downfall of, topple, bring low, undo, depose, oust, displace, supplant, unseat, subvert, dethrone, disestablish, dissolve
put an end to, defeat, conquer, displace, break up, subvert, annihilate, dissolve
View synonyms
1. 1.1Put an end to (something), typically by the use of force or violence.
  ‘their subversive activities are calculated to overthrow parliamentary democracy’
  ‘These conflicts must not be overlooked, for we are confronted by powerful forces eager to overthrow the basic premises of the Enlightenment.’
  ‘They would create some kind of great force that would overthrow the old order.’
  ‘The classic Newtonian view of gravity as a simple force between objects was overthrown by Einstein's vision of gravity as the result of objects warping space and time.’
  ‘With the power gone the large military force easily overthrew the small base, reaping it of all life.’
  ‘And they are about overthrowing dictatorships and expanding democracy and so forth.’
  ‘The mainstream left have forgotten the need to overthrow tyranny and build democracy.’
  ‘After all these people claim to be revolutionaries committed to overthrowing parliamentary democracy, by violent means if necessary.’
  ‘You also know that the South African regime was overthrown by massive shifts in internal and external forces.’
  ‘The task was redefined, increasingly explicitly, as that of overthrowing the forces of evil.’
  ‘The rebels are fighting to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy in favor of a communist republic.’
  ‘The millions who overthrew the ancient régime, and were then forced to build monuments to their own revolutionary past.’
  ‘Nonetheless, the ruling overthrew the agreed ownership composition and forced the joint taskforce to postpone its work on the car project, he said.’
  ‘The reality is that any corrupt regime overthrown by moral and rational forces would immediately be targeted for destruction.’
  ‘On the twenty-eighth the departmental authorities overrode municipal objections and called them to arms, and the next day this force stormed the town hall and overthrew the Jacobin commune.’
  ‘In 1953 a relatively democratic and secular regime was overthrown by a CIA backed coup, leading to the repressive absolute rule by the Shah.’
  ‘It is the day that Nazi rule was overthrown and long-term and stable democracy established across Europe.’
  ‘The Taoiseach flouted his constitutional duty and lined-up with other Governments against the Irish people order to overthrow last year's democratic referendum result.’
  ‘When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, it pointed the way for South Africa to overthrow apartheid and establish a multi-racial democracy.’
  ‘Nor is there any evidence that the movement seeks to overthrow democracy.’
  ‘I didn't think it was a good moment to tell him I was in a band called ‘Fight for Justice’ and we were planning to use the power of punk to overthrow the Tory junta.’
  suppress, put an end to, crush, quash, quell, overthrow, stamp out, squash, repress, check, subdue
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2. 1.2 archaic Knock or throw to the ground.
  ‘one who is already prostrate cannot be overthrown’
  ‘There, in each pediment, were figures engaged in combat some overthrown and prostrate others sinking to their knees, and covering their heads with their shields.’
2Throw (a ball) further or harder than intended.
‘he grips the ball too tight and overthrows it’
- ‘He was overthrowing, keeping the ball up, trying too hard to win every game.’
- ‘He is best when he keeps the ball down; overthrowing and muscling up usually result in more high, hitable pitches.’
- ‘When he has fallen behind hitters, he has overthrown, trying to blow his fastball past hitters.’
- ‘He doesn't throw particularly hard, and when he overthrows, he loses command.’
- ‘When he overthrows and his pitches flatten out, he falls off the mound and gives up home runs.’
- ‘He has a blazing fastball and a dynamic slider, but he must overcome the tendency to overthrow and cut down on his pitch counts.’
- ‘A fastball, if not overthrown, is much easier on a pitcher's arm than a curveball or a splitter.’
- ‘He is overthrowing, which is causing his sinker to flatten out.’
- ‘By the time he reached the fifth inning in one of his recent starts, he overthrew seriously with dropping arm speed and tanked quickly.’
- ‘If properly timed, these throws can quickly get a ball to a baseman to make a play; if it isn't, however, the ball will most likely be overthrown, missing cutoff men entirely along with its target.’
- ‘It's not surprising then, that the first play of the 2003 season was a deep ball for the speedy wide receiver that was just overthrown.’
- ‘It is a stirring, brutal tale of conspiracy and intrigue, treachery and dissent, the overthrow of a hapless leader named Duncan.’
1. 2.1mainly North American Throw a ball beyond (a receiving player)
  ‘he overthrew a receiver in the end zone’
  ‘His performance has been steady, but he also has overthrown several open receivers on plays that should have gone for touchdowns.’
  ‘He was trying to get the ball to tight end Charlie Young, but he overthrew him.’

Pronunciation

overthrow

/ˌōvərˈTHrō/ /ˌoʊvərˈθroʊ/

noun

1in singular A removal from power; a defeat or downfall.
‘the speeches called for the overthrow of the monarchy’
- ‘A violent act by a slave against a white person could never be just that; it always carried with it the implicit threat of slave rebellion and the overthrow of white power.’
- ‘Its central theme is the struggle between love and power, the overthrow of a world gripped by greed and oppression, and its replacement by one ruled by freedom and benevolence.’
- ‘Early last century, the Bolshevik was plotting the overthrow of capitalism.’
- ‘Plotting the overthrow of any foreign government became a crime.’
- ‘Plotting the overthrow of a foreign government, however tyrannical, became a criminal offence.’
- ‘Such wholesale disobedience constitutes revolution or rebellion; the overthrow of a country's entire legal and governmental system.’
- ‘They are charged with plotting the overthrow of the Egyptian government and of attempting to damage Egyptian security.’
- ‘The media coverage has portrayed this as a ‘velvet revolution’ - the overthrow of a corrupt leader who defrauded an election to retain power.’
- ‘It happened on the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, the overthrow of the monarchy, so that's perhaps some significance to be drawn there.’
- ‘They used their electronic brains to plot the overthrow of humankind, and carried it out with the supercharged bodies they had been given by their human masters who were now slaves.’
- ‘There was only one problem: just as America was about to assume global leadership, the overthrow of world capitalism had been announced in the form of the Russian Revolution.’
- ‘Riots, revolutions and the overthrow of rulers, keep everyone on their toes!’
- ‘They are alienated, in the Marxist sense, from the product of their labours and this cannot be changed without revolutionary upheaval and the overthrow of capitalism.’
- ‘Although he sought the overthrow of the US Government, his tactics and power base were much larger.’
- ‘It had acquired military and political power because of its role in the overthrow of the Nazi regime.’
- ‘And the overthrow of the government my papa had given his power to by a group of hateful men only made things worse.’
- ‘The occasion being evoked: a fundamental, revolutionary change, announcing not only the overthrow of the old regime, but the birth of a new state.’
- ‘This is perhaps because so much of academic thought in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries related to the reform or even the overthrow of capitalism, of the free market and of the private enterprise system.’
- ‘In these circumstances the demand for Maori tribes or iwi to be given control over such an important resource as the foreshore and seabed can only be progressive if it matched with a demand for the overthrow of capitalism.’
- ‘A fifth possible motivation is that the authors of the article believed that the overthrow of the current legal government of the USA was more important than success in the war.’
removal, removal from office, removal from power, downfall, fall, collapse, toppling, undoing, deposition, ousting, displacement, supplanting, unseating, subversion, dethronement, disestablishment, dissolution
ending, defeat, displacement, fall, rout, collapse, downfall, demise, break-up, subversion, annihilation, dissolution
View synonyms
2(in baseball and other games) a throw that sends a ball past its intended recipient or target.
‘His first incompletion was an overthrow of a deep ball that would've made it eight in a row and three touchdowns.’
- ‘Numerous overthrows, wides and no balls showed the drawbacks inherent in blind cricket.’
- ‘In the mentioned situation, the act of handing the ball to the boy is the same as an overthrow into dead territory.’
- ‘There were some overthrows, slight misfields, inaccurate throws all of which helped the advancing players.’
- ‘It seems the 96 fastball was a bit of an overthrow for him, as he did not top 94 in his six fastballs after that.’
- ‘He has displayed good mobility in the pocket but also had some overthrows while trying to dodge pressure.’
- ‘He has even claimed that his walking/running is designed to manufacture overthrows.’
- ‘As it turned out, Dad didn't have to make any judgment calls that night (other than ruling an overthrow by Cubs catcher Chris).’
- ‘Only an overthrow by Manning prevented a long touchdown.’
- ‘He has great stuff but gets excited and overthrows, hurting his command.’
- ‘In attempting to get off the mark, was within a whisker of being run out, Kevin's throw careering for overthrows instead.’
- ‘That, in turn, blocks his vision downfield, which leads to overthrows and underthrows.’
- ‘When things have gone amiss in a side, it is the fielding that always gives it away: the overthrows, the collisions, the dropped catches, the dramatic dive clean over the ball.’
- ‘He sometimes overthrows and struggles to locate his secondary pitches.’
- ‘He sometimes overthrows, with an inconsistent release point, which indicates arm fatigue and a possible arm problem.’
- ‘The umpire instructed him to go to third base, reminding him that a runner gets two bases on an overthrow that goes into dead territory.’
- ‘We, in contrast, did not get near theirs and Steve threw well, one overthrow excepted.’
- ‘A team that is shot through with self-belief fields like demons; a team racked with self-doubt misfields, overthrows and - vitally - drops catches.’
- ‘Umpteen mistakes were made, overthrows, byes, no-balls, bad shots, all of them a reminder that cricket is a game of the spirit.’
- ‘When it comes to running out opposition batsmen, why is it that the ball unerringly strikes the stumps when the batsman is yards in, but equally unerringly misses by a mile and goes for overthrows where he is yards out?’
3A panel of decorated wrought-iron work above an arch or gateway.
‘The overthrow, particularly popular in the Baroque era commencing in the 17th century, refers to the crowning section of ornamental wrought iron work which forms a decorative crest above a wrought iron gate.’
- ‘A large wrought-iron arched overthrow for double gates or doors, with Greek Revival motifs and laurel swags.’