1To cause something upright to fall over or lie on its side; also used for reclining something, like a seat back.
強風で自転車が倒された。
The bicycle was knocked over by the strong wind.
積み木を高く積みすぎて倒してしまった。
I stacked the blocks too high and knocked them over.
バスの座席を倒して眠った。
I reclined the bus seat and fell asleep.
花瓶を倒さないように気をつけてください。
Please be careful not to knock over the vase.
2To defeat an opponent in a fight or contest; in a stronger sense, to kill.
主人公は最終ボスを倒してゲームをクリアした。
The protagonist beat the final boss and cleared the game.
猟師は罠で獲物を倒した。
The hunter took down his prey with a trap.
決勝戦で強豪チームを倒し、優勝を果たした。
They defeated a powerhouse team in the final and won the championship.
3To topple an authority or regime, or to derail a plan or argument.
革命によって独裁政権が倒された。
The dictatorial regime was overthrown by the revolution.
一つの矛盾が彼の理論全体を倒した。
A single contradiction brought down his entire theory.
スキャンダルが長期政権を倒すきっかけとなった。
The scandal became the trigger that brought down the long-running administration.
4To skip out on a payment, or to swindle someone out of money.
その客は宿代を倒して夜逃げした。
That guest skipped town without paying the lodging bill.
取引先を信用したばかりに、大金を倒された。
Just because I trusted the business partner, I ended up being cheated out of a large sum.
5Attached to a verb's -masu stem as 〜倒す, meaning to do that action all the way, exhaustively.
セール初日は安い商品を買い倒した。
On the first day of the sale, I bought up all the cheap items I could.
彼は好きなアニメを一晩で見倒した。
He binge-watched his favorite anime all the way through in one night.
学生時代はカラオケで歌い倒したものだ。
Back in my student days, I used to sing my heart out at karaoke.