pervert
Americanverb (used with object)
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to affect with perversion.
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to lead astray morally.
- Synonyms:
- demoralize, corrupt, seduce
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to turn away from the right course.
- Synonyms:
- divert
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to lead into mental error or false judgment.
-
to turn to an improper use; misapply.
-
to misconstrue or misinterpret, especially deliberately; distort.
to pervert someone's statement.
-
to bring to a less excellent state; vitiate; debase.
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Pathology. to change to what is unnatural or abnormal.
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to convert or persuade to a religious belief regarded as false or wrong.
noun
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a person who practices sexual perversion.
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Pathology. a person affected with perversion.
-
a person who has been perverted, or turned from what is right, especially to a religious belief regarded as erroneous.
verb
-
to use wrongly or badly
-
to interpret wrongly or badly; distort
-
to lead into deviant or perverted beliefs or behaviour; corrupt
-
to debase
noun
Other Word Forms
- nonpervertible adjective
- perverter noun
- pervertibility noun
- pervertible adjective
- pervertibly adverb
Etymology
Origin of pervert
First recorded in 1300–50; (for the verb) Middle English perverten, from Latin pervertere “to overturn, subvert,” from per- per- + vertere “to turn”; (for the noun) noun use of obsolete pervert “perverted”
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.
The man, who cannot be named, was arrested, but within hours Rose was charged with blackmail and later a further charge of perverting the course of public justice.
From BBC
All the defendants deny the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.
From BBC
Before “Dawson’s Creek” finished its six-season run, its shining star and America’s best boy had already set his sights on something else — a role that could pervert his sweet smile into a loathsome, stomach-churning grin.
From Salon
While the accused man was not charged with a crime, Ruth faced an accusation of perverting the course of justice, an offence that carries a maximum life jail term.
From BBC
Tolkien, a scholar of Old English, studied the “theory of courage” found in poems such as the ancient epic “Beowulf,” redeeming what he called the “noble northern spirit” from the fascists who would pervert it.
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.
