pervert
Americanverb (used with object)
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perverts,
present (3rd person singular)
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perverted,
past participle, past
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perverting
present participle
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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.
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to turn to an improper use; misapply.
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to misconstrue or misinterpret, especially deliberately; distort.
to pervert someone's statement.
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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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perverts
plural
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a person who practices sexual perversion.
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Pathology. a person affected with perversion.
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a person who has been perverted, or turned from what is right, especially to a religious belief regarded as erroneous.
verb
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to use wrongly or badly
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to interpret wrongly or badly; distort
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to lead into deviant or perverted beliefs or behaviour; corrupt
-
to debase
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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perverternoun
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pervertibilitynoun
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nonpervertibleadjective
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pervertibleadjective
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pervertiblyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pervertsimple
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pervertssimple
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have pervertedperfect
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has pervertedperfect
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am pervertingprogressive
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are pervertingprogressive
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is pervertingprogressive
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have been pervertingperfect progressive
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has been pervertingperfect progressive
Past
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pervertedsimple
-
had pervertedperfect
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was pervertingprogressive
-
were pervertingprogressive
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had been pervertingperfect progressive
Future
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”
Explanation
To pervert something is to corrupt it. For example, you could "pervert the course of justice" by lying on the witness stand. Another common use of pervert is as a word for a person who is sexually deviant; however, people also use this word more loosely to describe anyone who seems creepy. Perverting also means changing or subverting something. A cop who breaks the law is perverting the law. A criminal who convinces other people to become criminals is perverting them. So when you think of pervert, think change — change for the worse.
Vocabulary lists containing pervert
Antigone, Lines 710–1500
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Vocabulary from Readings 4, Unit 4
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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.
See Examples For:
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.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Two others were sentenced alongside Hunter after previously pleading guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2025
Acting High Court of Fiji Chief Justice Salesi Temo sentenced the 70-year-old in the capital Suva on a conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2024
When publications can’t simply die, when they’re forced to roam the Earth in search of salvation, they pervert the very thing they were once trying to accomplish.
From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2024
Either he’s still thinking about John the pervert or he’s remembering how hard it was to talk to Mom about anything.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
“It inverts, or you might say perverts, the assumptions at the very foundation of the justification for the free market,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2024
“If terrorism and violence in the name of dissent cannot be condoned, neither can violence that is officially sanctioned. Such action perverts the legal system that alone assures the survival of our traditions,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 15, 2022
"They need protection from perverts like you," echoed conservative author Michael Malice.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2022
Ambition perverts the love between parent and child, husband and wife, brother and sister.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
Imperfect knowledge perverts the noblest sentiments; widened and perfected knowledge strengthens their power.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 488, May 9, 1885 by Various
Mr. Mladenov has offered assurances that none of these provisions will be perverted to keep Hamas in power, and he has a team including a two-star U.S. general working to prevent that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The officer is alleged to have perverted the course of justice, but police said no arrests had been made.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Now imagine that kind of corrupted, perverted system of justice writ large.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
Reprehensible such people may be, but they are motivated by a kind of perverted idealism.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2025
The light, his head, and the wall, he thought, as though he were an initiate or some perverted eclipse created without the consent of nature.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
A British woman has been jailed for six years in Hong Kong for blackmail and perverting the course of justice after a court found she made a false allegation of rape.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Joel Bodmer, who stood for selection as Labour's candidate for the Croydon East constituency, has been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to allegedly altering phone records.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
Hong Kong police first arrested the man, but within hours released him and arrested Rose, charging her with blackmail and later with perverting the course of public justice.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
The ombudsman had been reported for the potential offences of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
That business in the note about “misleading and perverting the young” had been badly misunderstood and misinterpreted.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
