overturned
overturned — verb
- overturnedpresent simple I / you / we / they
- overturneds3rd person singular
- overturneding-ing form
- overturnededpast simple
1. to flip something so that its top side ends up underneath, or for something to f
to flip something so that its top side ends up underneath, or for something to flip in this way by itself; usually said of vehicles, boats, or pieces of furniture.
A truck overturned on the highway near Imran's office during the storm.
intransitive: [vehicle] + overturn
Élise accidentally overturned a bowl of soup while reaching for the salt.
transitive: overturn + [container of liquid]
Strong winds overturned several small fishing boats off the coast of Busan.
The angry protesters overturned a police car outside the parliament building.
Kofi tripped on the rug and overturned the coffee table in front of his guests.
文法句型
overturn + [object]
[subject] + overturn
用法筆記
Subject of the intransitive use is almost always a vehicle, vessel, or piece of furniture — not a person.
常見錯誤
2. for a higher court or governing body to cancel an earlier court decision, verdic
for a higher court or governing body to cancel an earlier court decision, verdict, or law, declaring that it should no longer apply.
The supreme court overturned the lower court's decision after reviewing new DNA evidence.
typical subject: higher court
Dahlia spent twelve years in prison before an appeals judge overturned her conviction.
overturn + a conviction
Parliament voted to overturn the controversial ban on outdoor public gatherings.
Lawyers argued for months before the verdict against the company was finally overturned.
Civil rights groups celebrated when judges overturned the curfew rule for teenagers.
- reverse
interchangeable in legal contexts; slightly broader use outside law
- quash
more formal British legal usage; emphasises wiping the conviction off the record
- strike down
specific to courts cancelling a law as unconstitutional
文法句型
overturn + [decision/verdict/conviction/law]
用法筆記
Subject is usually an institution — a court, judge, panel, or legislature — never an individual citizen.
常見錯誤
3. in a UK election, to take away a sitting politician's winning lead and beat them
in a UK election, to take away a sitting politician's winning lead and beat them, often by a surprisingly large swing of votes.
The new Labour candidate overturned a Conservative majority of nearly four thousand votes.
overturn + a [party's] majority
Valentina overturned the sitting MP's lead in a constituency nobody expected her party to win.
subject: challenger candidate
Voters in the rural seat overturned a twenty-year Liberal Democrat hold last Thursday night.
Christopher's campaign team celebrated as he overturned a five-thousand-vote deficit in the by-election.
- hold
for a candidate or party to keep the seat they already had
文法句型
overturn + [candidate's] + majority
用法筆記
Distinct from sense 2 (legal): here the object is always a 'majority', 'lead', 'seat', or 'deficit' in an electoral contest, not a court ruling.
常見錯誤
overturned — noun
1. the action of flipping something over so its top ends up underneath, or the cond
the action of flipping something over so its top ends up underneath, or the condition of being flipped in this way; chiefly a technical or written-style word.
Engineers studied the overturn of the cargo ship to find out what caused the disaster.
the overturn of + [vessel]
Niran took photographs documenting the overturn of the bus on the icy mountain pass.
The report described the overturn of the ferry in slow, technical language.
Investigators measured tyre marks to model the overturn of Ilan's overloaded delivery truck.
用法筆記
Rare as a noun in everyday speech; the verb form 'overturn' or the phrase 'turning over' is far more common. Reserve this noun for technical reports, news writing, or formal contexts.