perverse
Americanadjective
-
willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired; contrary.
- Synonyms:
- disobedient, contumacious
- Antonyms:
- agreeable
-
characterized by or proceeding from such a determination or disposition.
a perverse mood.
-
wayward or cantankerous.
-
persistent or obstinate in what is wrong.
- Synonyms:
- headstrong, stubborn
- Antonyms:
- tractable
-
turned away from or rejecting what is right, good, or proper; wicked or corrupt.
adjective
-
deliberately deviating from what is regarded as normal, good, or proper
-
persistently holding to what is wrong
-
wayward or contrary; obstinate; cantankerous
-
archaic perverted
Synonym Usage
See willful.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of perverse
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”; see pervert
Explanation
Something that's perverse is deviant — it's not completely acceptable, and it may be even a little strange. Your perverse sense of humor probably makes some of your friends laugh while others just look uncomfortable. Something perverse is unusual, possibly somewhat weird, and even immoral, like that time the odd kid in class announced that a love poem was really all about lovingly poisoning squirrels and no one sat next to him for a week afterwards. That kid's perspective was perverse. Perverse can also mean "stubbornly contradictory" or "perverted." The word originally meant "wicked," from the Latin perversus, "turned away or askew," and figuratively, "turned away from what is right."
Vocabulary lists containing perverse
Romeo and Juliet
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The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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"Marigolds"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In one passage of egregious sloppiness, Mr. Vance quotes a paper by Vanessa Brown Calder, formerly of the Cato Institute, in which she explains the perverse effects of mandatory parental-leave benefits.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 15, 2026
And in Aaron’s case, what would it be like to reconnect with someone who saw you before you saw yourself, whose observation of you is both perverse and undeniably correct?
From Salon • Jun. 15, 2026
They came from my training in thinking like an economist—reasoning about probabilities, spotting perverse incentives and judging which details actually affect decisions.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026
The perverse reality is that the court’s use of history in Callais couldn’t be more backward.
From Slate • May 5, 2026
Hannah Arendt, the influential cultural critic who documented the perverse excesses of Nazism, would later write about the “banality of evil” that permeated German culture during the Nazi era.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
