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
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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
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had pervertedperfect
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was pervertingprogressive
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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:
Stewart and the 15-year-old also face other charges which include attempting to pervert the course of justice.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
All the defendants deny the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026
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
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
He mentions twice more that he’s pissed off that I never told him about John the pervert.
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
Offering such glints of transcendence at the edge of an ugly killing, Melchor creates a narrative that not only decries an atrocity but embodies the beauty and vitality it perverts.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2020
He then perverts and destroys one of the most excellent gifts of his nature, and fails thereby in one of the strictest and most clearly defined duties.
From Elements of Morals With Special Application of the Moral Law to the Duties of the Individual and of Society and the State by Janet, Paul
“That states do have the power to further their own agendas in very perverted ways.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
Mahito is soon sucked into an alternate universe where the ills of the human world are on full display but perverted into greater absurdity.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2024
"A man with the perverted and extremely dangerous views you hold should never be employed in the responsible position of a prison officer," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2023
Past victimhood should not be perverted into a right to harm.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2023
Even if he did think she was a perverted psychopath who wrote herself badly punctuated threats.
From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell
A high-ranking police officer is being investigated for allegedly perverting the course of justice in connection with legal action brought by a woman who sought video footage of her arrest.
From BBC ● May 1, 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
Dick ultimately pled guilty to perverting the course of justice and was jailed, but at the time stayed silent about the car and any link with Arlene.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026
Gwent Police said a man in his 30s and a woman in her 60s from Chepstow were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
By hiring an army of contract egg hunters, IOI was perverting the entire spirit of the contest.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
