小词详解 | topple

topple 英 [ˈtɒpl] 美 [ˈtɑːpl]

IELTS TEM8 GMAT GRE

外刊例句

• JD.com has adopted an expensive “asset-heavy” business model akin to Amazon’s in America. Thus far, its vast investments in warehouses, logistics and couriers have not come anywhere near toppling Alibaba.
  京东采取了成本很高的“重资产”商业模式，与美国的亚马逊类似。到目前为止，京东在仓储、物流和快递方面的庞大投资还远不足以掀翻阿里巴巴。
  ——《经济学人》
• I was a boy when the Taliban were toppled in 2001, growing up here as new life was injected into the ruins of a capital that had been deeply scarred by civil war.
  塔利班政权在2001年被推翻时，我还是个孩子。我在这里成长的过程中，饱受内战创伤的首都废墟也被注入了新生。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] overbalance or become unsteady and fall slowly
[动词] 失去平衡或变得不稳定而缓慢倒下

深入解读

看到 topple 一词，小站的老铁们难免会联想起小站（微信公众号：田间小站）之前推送过的与之结尾相同的 cripple, grapple, supple 等来。而即便是对其不熟悉的小伙伴，也很容易猜到该词源自熟词 top ，由 top + 反复后缀 -le 构成。

Topple 最早于16世纪40年代出现在英语，最初本用来表示“翻滚、滚动”，等到了16世纪80年代开始发展为现在的基本含义指“（使）倒塌、倒下”，主要指（使）物体失去平衡或稳定而缓慢地落下，比如：

• 那个男人经过时蹭了她一下，使她从凳子上摔了下来。然后他醉醺醺地踉跄着走出了酒吧。他喝了两杯就醉了。
  The man brushed past, toppling her from her stool. Then he lurched drunkenly out of the pub. Two drinks muddled him.
• 那个身体灵活的女孩失去平衡，往后趔趄了一下，撞到栏杆摔倒了。
  The supple girl lost her balance, staggered back against the rail and toppled over.

不过平时看国际新闻时遇到更多的可能是 topple 从这个概念引申出来的含义指“推翻、颠覆、打倒”某个政权或某个领导人等，也就是迫使其失去权力或权威，尤其是非民选的政府或领导人，比如：

• 他们精心策划了一个推翻总统的阴谋。
  They contrived a plot to topple the President.

权威用例

我们经过北伐战争、土地革命战争、抗日战争、解放战争，以武装的革命反对武装的反革命，推翻帝国主义、封建主义、官僚资本主义三座大山，建立了人民当家作主的中华人民共和国，实现了民族独立、人民解放。
Through the Northern Expedition, the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and the War of Liberation, we fought armed counter-revolution with armed revolution, toppling the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism and establishing the People's Republic of China, which made the people masters of the country.

出自习总书记在庆祝中国共产党成立100周年大会上的讲话。

同近义词

• tumble: (typically of a person) fall suddenly, clumsily, or headlong
• overturn: tip (something) over so that it is on its side or upside down
• tip: overbalance or cause to overbalance so as to fall or turn over

往期回顾