Overthrower

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who contributes to the elimination of a ruling entity or governance is someone who engages in the act of bringing down established authority through direct action
2. Someone who takes action to remove current leadership or governing body from control
3. An individual involved in displacing and ending the rule of an authority or regime

Etymology: "Overthrower" is a plain English formation: the verb "overthrow" with the agent suffix "-er" added to it. "Overthrow" itself is older and built from "over" and "throw". The first element traces back to Old English "ofer", a word that carried the sense of going across or above, and "throw" has been part of English since the Middle English period. Put together, the verb meant to throw something over, to topple it, and later to bring down a ruler or system. The suffix does the rest of the work. "-er" arrived in English through Old English "-ere", which in turn descends from Latin "-arius", a marker for a person who performs an action or belongs to a trade. So an overthrower is simply one who overthrows, a label built the same way as "baker" or "teacher". The word appears to be a straightforward coinage from English materials rather than a borrowing, and its meaning has stayed close to the literal sense of toppling something.

Synonyms: rebel, insurgent, revolutionary

Antonyms: loyalist, supporter, defender