Overturned

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Flipped or turned upside down from its usual position ; changed or reversed a previous judgment, decision, or ruling
2. Moved so that the original top is now the bottom ; annulled or set aside a ruling made earlier by an authority
3. Turned over so the underside is now facing up ; overruled or invalidated an earlier official decision or court judgment

Etymology: "Overturned" is the past tense and past participle of "overturn," which entered Middle English as a compound of "over" and "turn," both long native to the language. The sense is literal and transparent: to turn something over, so that what was on top ends up underneath. Middle English also had a near-relative, "overterven," which drew on the older verb "terve," meaning to turn or tumble, so the idea of a tipping-over motion was already present in the family of words before the compound took its current shape. The legal sense, that a court or authority overrules an earlier decision, grows naturally from the same picture. Overturning a verdict or a ruling is like flipping over a previous conclusion so that it no longer stands. The physical and figurative meanings thus rest on one image, with the abstract sense built directly on the concrete one.

Synonyms: overthrown, capsized, upended

Antonyms: stabilized, secured