dethrone

Etymology

From de- + throne.

verb

1. To depose; to forcibly relieve a monarch of the monarchy.
   […] he (the said Pope) doth not onely claime to be spirituall head of all Christians, but also to haue an Imperiall Ciuill power ouer all Kings and Emperours, dethroning and decrowning princes with his foote, as pleaseth him […] 1607, A Large Examination Taken at Lambeth […] of M. G. Blakwell, London, page 34
   And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed. 1923, Kahlil Gibran, “On Freedom”, in The Prophet, New York: Knopf, pages 55–56
2. To remove any governing authority from power.
   Not only where the chief magistrate enters into measures, in themselves, extremely pernicious to the public, but even when he wou’d encroach on the other parts of the constitution, and extend his power beyond the legal bounds, it is allowable to resist and dethrone him; 1740, David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, London: John Noon, Volume 3, Part 2, Section 10, p. 183
   […] demands by Sakharov and others for further change—notably the dethroning of the increasingly discredited Party from its privileged position—could not be swept aside […] 2005, Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Penguin, Part 2, Chapter 19, p. 600
3. To remove from any position of high status or power.
   1753, Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s Inn Journal, No. 23, 24 March, 1753, Volume 1, London: P. Vaillant, 1756, p. 168, […] we conclude, sincerely wishing, that you may continue to display your usual Graces of Elocution, and admirable Powers of Action, untill Harlequin shall dethrone the great Shakespear, or Pierot usurp the Seat of Johnson.
   […] I’m a dethroned elder child, remember. My temper isn’t so damned long as you sometimes think! 1954, Peter De Vries, chapter 6, in The Tunnel of Love, Boston: Little, Brown, page 53
   My socialist posturing was also a way of social climbing, since I always included my father among the capitalists I was determined to dethrone, whereas he was just a small entrepreneur. 1988, Edmund White, chapter 1, in The Beautiful Room Is Empty, New York: Ballantine, page 17
4. (figurative) To remove (something) from a position of power or paramount importance.
   All that was Good and Holy, is dethron’d, And Lust, and Rapine are for justice own’d. 1672, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada, London: Henry Herringman, act V, page 140
   So I am to dethrone my Intellect and set Emotion in its place. Is that it? 1972, Robertson Davies, The Manticore, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, published 2015, Part 2, Chapter 2