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.
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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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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
- 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 rules—or lack thereof—around these blacklists don’t serve justice but pervert it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025
They also all claim the state-run institution conspired with Fujitsu to pervert the course of justice by "deliberately and dishonestly" withholding evidence.
From BBC • Aug. 6, 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
“Go back to the early 1800s in England, before some pervert invented machinery. What was life there?”
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
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.
