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View synonyms for perverse

perverse

[ per-vurs ]

adjective

  1. willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired; contrary.

    Synonyms: disobedient, contumacious

    Antonyms: agreeable

  2. characterized by or proceeding from such a determination or disposition:

    a perverse mood.

  3. wayward or cantankerous.
  4. persistent or obstinate in what is wrong.

    Synonyms: headstrong, stubborn

    Antonyms: tractable

  5. turned away from or rejecting what is right, good, or proper; wicked or corrupt.

    Synonyms: sinful, bad, evil



perverse

/ pəˈvɜːs /

adjective

  1. deliberately deviating from what is regarded as normal, good, or proper
  2. persistently holding to what is wrong
  3. wayward or contrary; obstinate; cantankerous
  4. archaic.
    perverted
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • perˈversely, adverb
  • perˈverseness, noun
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Other Words From

  • per·verse·ly adverb
  • per·verse·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of perverse1

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, Middle French pervers, “wicked, unnatural,” from Latin perversus “facing the wrong way, askew,” past participle of pervertere “to turn around, overturn”; pervert
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Word History and Origins

Origin of perverse1

C14: from Old French pervers, from Latin perversus turned the wrong way
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Synonym Study

See willful.
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Example Sentences

It would fun to look for a perverse joke in here, but we’ve covered that already.

This will create some perverse incentives for doctors like me, who often think more about the benefit to individual patients than we do to society at large.

From Vox

As in “Pond,” there’s an uncanny coolness to Glass’s portrayal of an unstable young woman, a voyeurism that’s by turns both pleasant and perverse.

We need to reward nursing homes for the basics, too, like cleaning and infectious-disease control, rather than costly extra services — a perverse system that damn near amounted to geronticide when the pandemic hit.

This is the first time someone’s tried to come up with a regulated rate card for how it should work and trying to arrive at a fair set of terms without invoking all sorts of unintended consequences and perverse outcomes.

From Digiday

Beck takes the prize for Most Perverse Offering by an Artist in 2012.

His reason prompted him to listen, but the Imp of the Perverse laughed reason to scorn.

As it is, you will easily perceive that I am one of the many uncounted victims of the Imp of the Perverse.

Examine these similar actions as we will, we shall find them resulting solely from the spirit of the Perverse.

Perverse cruelty on the part of the government came to their attention with distressing frequency.

Perverse fashion kept them in London even in April and May for "the season," just when in the country nature was most alluring.

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pervasivenessperversely