Perverse

/pɚˈvɝs/ · adjective

Meaning

Turned aside while against something, splitting off from a thing..

Definitions by Sense

1. Turned aside while against something, splitting off from a thing.
2. Morally wrong or evil; wicked; perverted.
3. Obstinately in the wrong; stubborn; intractable.
4. Wayward; vexing; contrary.
5. (law, of a verdict) Ignoring the evidence or the judge's opinions.
6. (geometry) A chiral opposite of something; a mirror image with opposite handedness.
7. (nonstandard) To pervert.

Example Sentences

Any man who succeeds in diverting the public taste, or in turning back a perverse stream which will flow in the direction of the ditch, leaves a mark, as it were, and cannot be overlooked by posterity.

But in the same sense are modern Nietzsche's screams against the perverse (diverted) diffusion of these elemental pleas to reason for “reasons,” for the reasons—and place—of our fall in nonsense.

The diverted or perverse way is also not an easy path to walk. It is rightly called “crooked” and “twisting.”

Looking at Barbara one would have considerable difficulty detecting a perverse side to her nature. Her expression was demure, shy, and apprehensive. But she recognized the demonic aspect of her personality and admitted it. I felt most alive when I felt most perverse. At college, sleeping with boys had a perverse quality. I slept with a boy friend of one of my girl friends, and I was proud of it. I bragged about it because I had done something perverse. Another time, I slept with a man, fat and ugly, who paid me for it. I was very proud. I felt I had the ability to do something different.

Where this perverse sign flip occurs depends on the values of other parameters […].

[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across.[…]Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmetic of biological terminology, multiplying.

If two antipodal points move continuously on the sphere, they trace out what are called symmetric figures. These figures have corresponding elements equal, and are equal in area, but are not in general superposable. The one is, in fact, the perverse of the other.

This rule hath been always for the commodity of that kingdom, where as the powers have been thus by them perversed.

Synonyms for perverse

Antonyms for perverse

Related Words

Word Forms

• more perverse
• perverser
• most perverse
• perversest
• perverses
• perversing
• perversed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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