To overturn something means to reverse it or turn it over so it no longer stands or applies in the way it did before.

Core meanings

  • Physical: To flip or tip something over so it’s upside down or on its side, like a car, boat, or chair overturning in an accident.
  • Legal/official: To cancel, reverse, or invalidate a previous decision, judgment, rule, or law, such as a higher court overturning a lower court’s ruling.
  • Ideas and beliefs: To show that an idea, belief, or assumption is wrong, effectively reversing how people see something.

Everyday examples

  • “The strong wind overturned the trash cans in the street.”
  • “The appeal court overturned the original verdict.”
  • “New evidence overturned the old theory about the event.”

In all these uses, the key idea in “what does it mean to overturn something” is a strong change: either literally turning something over, or figuratively undoing and reversing a decision, rule, or belief.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.