perversity

American  

[per-vur-si-tee] / pərˈvɜr sɪ ti /

noun

plural

perversities

1. a willful tendency or determination to go counter to what is expected or desired, sometimes for no apparent reason; contrariness.

   On Thanksgiving, out of sheer perversity, he brought up a topic that was almost taboo for his family.

2. the quality of being, or having an effect, exactly contrary to what is expected or desired.

   The administration was slow to acknowledge the perversity of their welfare reform, which has given the underemployed an incentive to become unemployed.

3. persistence or obstinacy in what is wrong.

   She again rejected her parents' advice with self-defeating perversity.

4. a turning away from or rejection of thoughts and deeds one knows are right, good, or proper; wickedness or corruption.

   The preacher lamented the perversity of mankind that began in the Garden of Eden.

5. an instance of willful contrariety, obstinacy, or wickedness, or an outcome directly opposite to one’s intentions or expectations.

   One of the perversities of the system is that the worse one’s crime in one’s home country, the more likely one is to gain asylum.

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perversity British  

/ pəˈvɜːsɪtɪ /

noun

1. the quality or state of being perverse

2. a perverse action, comment, etc

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Other Word Forms

• nonperversity
  noun

Etymology

Origin of perversity

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English, from Old French perversité, from Latin perversitāt-, stem of perversitās “wrongheadedness, unreasonableness”; see origin at perverse, -ity

Explanation

When you choose to act in a way that's unreasonable, contrary, or just plain wrong, you're displaying perversity. Your perversity might lead you to throw your empty soda can on the ground instead of in the recycling bin. Being deliberately contrary — doing the opposite of what people expect or want you to do — is one characteristic of perversity. There's also a sense inherent in this word of acting strangely or deviantly. Your perversity might mean that your jokes tend to make everyone around you feel uncomfortable. The Latin root is perversus, "turned away, contrary, or askew."

Example Sentences

Mamet, 74, came to prominence in the 1970s with a series of plays including “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” and “American Buffalo.”

From New York Times • Apr. 13, 2022

Partway through Rafael Yglesias' 10th novel, "The Wisdom of Perversity," a screenwriter named Brian Moran chides himself, "Don't be a hack writer. … Not everyone is a fragile flower like you."

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2015

It will be directed by Lindsay Posner, who previously directed other Mamet plays including Oleanna, A Life in the Theatre and Sexual Perversity in Chicago.

From BBC • Jun. 26, 2014

The cultural dilution of David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” continues with “About Last Night,” an adaptation/remake with even less of the play’s DNA than the dreadful original film.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 12, 2014

Under the emblematic title, The Demon of Perversity, he had been the first in literature to pry into the irresistible, unconscious impulses of the will which mental pathology now explains more scientifically.

From Against the Grain by Huysmans, J.-K. (Joris-Karl)