Other forms: subverted, subverting, subverts
To subvert is to undermine the power or authority of something. Subvert the state, subvert expectations, subvert the process.
The literary use is now everywhere: to subvert expectations is to set up one ending and deliver another. The political sense is heavier and means working from inside to bring something down.
1verbsubvertTo undermine the power or authority of something.
“The rebels tried to subvert the government by spreading false news.”
subvert is an undermining.
Latin subvertere means to overturn, from sub, beneath, plus vertere, to turn.
Proto-Indo-European
*wert-
Latin
subvertō — to overthrow
Old French
subvertir
Middle English
subverten
English, today
subvert
From Middle English subverten, from Old French subvertir, from Latin subvertō (“to overthrow”) literally “to underturn, turn from beneath”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA