subversion Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity
    corruption.
    • corruption of a minor
    • the big city's subversion of rural innocence
  2. noun the act of subverting; as overthrowing or destroying a legally constituted government
    subversive activity.

WordNet

Sub*ver"sion noun
Etymology
L. subversio: cf. F. subversion. See Subvert.
Definitions
  1. The act of overturning, or the state of being overturned; entire overthrow; an overthrow from the foundation; utter ruin; destruction; as, the subversion of a government; the subversion of despotic power; the subversion of the constitution.
    The subversion [by a storm] of woods and timber . . . through my whole estate. Evelyn.
    Laws have been often abused to the oppression and subversion of that order they were intended to preserve. Rogers.

Webster 1913