Perverse

Definition: Perverse

Perverse

Adjective

1. Marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict; "took perverse satisfaction in foiling her plans".

2. Resistant to guidance or discipline; "Mary Mary quite contrary"; "an obstinate child with a violent temper"; "a perverse mood"; "wayward behavior".

3. Marked by immorality; deviating from what is considered right or proper or good; "depraved criminals"; "a perverted sense of loyalty"; "the reprobate conduct of a gambling aristocrat".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "perverse" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Etymology: Perverse \Per*verse"\, adjective. [Latin expression perversus turned the wrong way, not right, past participle of pervertereto turn around, to overturn: compare to the French expression pervers. See Pervert.]. (references)

Synonyms: Perverse

Difficulty

Awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable; intractable, stubborn; (obstinate); perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged; knotted, knotty; invious; pathless, trackless; labyrinthine; (convoluted); intricate, complicated; (tangled); impracticable; (impossible); not feasible; desperate; (hopeless).

Discourtesy

Taint, sour, crabbed, sharp, short, trenchant, sarcastic, biting, doggish, caustic, virulent, bitter, acrimonious, venomous, contumelious; snarling; Verb: surly, surly as a bear; perverse; grim, sullen; a; peevish; (irascible).

Obstinacy

Willful, self-willed, perverse; resty, restive, restiff; pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly; heady, headstrong; entete; contumacious; crossgrained.

Sullenness

Cross, crossgrained; perverse, wayward, humorsome; restiff, restive; cantankerous, intractable, exceptious, sinistrous, deaf to reason, unaccommodating, rusty, froward; cussed.

Crosswords: Perverse

German (pervert), Latin (askew, awry, bad, corrupt, destroy, evil, overthrow, perverse, ruin, subvert).

Last night was the most perverse, degrading experience of my life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer)

I must admit, the idea of doing it in my sister's bed gives me a perverse thrill (Sex, Lies, and Videotape; writing credit: Steven Soderbergh)

Tendre et perverse Emanuelle (1973)

Perverse et docile (1970)

Fascist Fundamentalists and Kristian Kiddie Kooks Perverse Preachers (1991)

Femmine perverse ovvero baraonda di sesso (1990)

La Perverse châtelaine dans l'écurie du sexe (1985)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Perverse Incentives: The Neglect of Social Technology in the Public Sector (reference)

• Perverse Spectators: The Practices of Film Reception (reference)

• Raices De LA Pobreza/Poverty's Roots: Las Perversas Reglas De Juego En America Latina/the Perverse Rules of the Game in Latin America (reference)

• The Imp of the Perverse [DOWNLOAD: ADOBE READER] (reference)

• The Perverse Person's ABC (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Perverse (reference)

• Perverse & Unnatural Practices (reference)

• Revolt of the Perverse (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Yet I am of opinion this defect arises chiefly from a perverse, restive disposition

Stop being perverse.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

Burma

As a result, a large secondary market in used cars and car parts has sprung up. The price for scarce import permits is reported to be about ten million kyat or about $25,000. As a result of these restrictions and perverse incentives, there has been a tendency to import only luxury vehicles, especially fully-loaded four-wheel drives such Pajeros and Land Cruisers. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Wicked or perverse men

Perverse

Expression using "perverse": perverse a. Additional references.

Albanian

ters (cranky, cross-grained, Froward, gruff, grumpy, impertinent, wayward), nopran (brusque, gruff, grumpy), i pashtruar (implacable, insubordinate, rebellious, restive, unlaid, unruly, unsubmissive, wild), i pandreqshëm (beyond retrieve, compulsive, fatal, hopeless, incorrigible, inveterate, irreclaimable, irredeemable, irremediable, irreparable, irretraceable, irretrievable, remediless, unimprovable), i pabindur (contumacious, disobedient, indocile, licentious, naughty, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, unamenable, unpersuadable, wayward), i mbrapshtë (vicious), i lig (bad, basilisk, catty, despiteful, diabolic, diabolical, evil, evil-minded, felon, godless, iniquitous, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, nefarious, sinister, spiteful, vicious, wicked), i keq (bad, bad tempered, baleful, blinking, bodeful, cancerous, catty, cheesy, crook, dark, defective, dubious, evil, heavy, ill, ill disposed, ill natured, ill-conditioned, lousy, low-grade, malign, malignant, nasty, naughty, poor, punk, shady, shoddy, sinister, ugly, vicious, vile, wicked), i gabuar (Amiss, erroneous, fallacious, false, faulty, ill-judged, improper, incorrect, mistaken, peccant, untrue, wet, wrong, wrongful), i çoroditur (addle-brained, addle-pated, anile, erratic, haywire). (various references)

Arabic 

‏فاسد (abusive, bad, corrupt, decadent, decayed, decomposed, degenerated, depraved, disintegrated, evil, false, foul, immoral, incorrect, infected, invalid, null, pervertible, putrid, rogue, rotten, spoiled, unsound, vain, vicious, void, wicked, wrong), ‏منحرف مائل (corrupted, deviating, inclined, oblique, tilted), ‏منحرف شاذ (aberrant, deviate), ‏منحرف (askew, aslant, awry, bent, deflector, depraved, devious, errant, inclined, oblique, skew, slant, slanted, slanting, tilted), ‏سيء الطبع (disagreeable), ‏عنيد (adamant, asinine, contrary, coriaceous, die hard, dogged, dour, fractious, hardheaded, headstrong, heady, implacable, incorrigible, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, intransigent, inveterate, irreconcilable, mulish, nagging, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ornery, peevish, persevering, pertinacious, piggish, pigheaded, refractory, rigid, scabrous, scratchy, self willed, stiff, stiff necked, stout, stubborn, sullen, tenacious, thwart, uncompromising, unruly, unwilling, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), ‏أحمق (ass, barmy, berk, bonkers, brutish, childish, chuckle-head, chump, cuckoo, daft, empty, empty headed, fantastic, fat, fathead, fatuous, foolish, footless, goofy, goon, haywire, idiotic, impolitic, imprudent, indiscreet, inept, injudicious, insensate, jerk, lemon, mad, meaningless, nit, nitwit, nonsensical, numskull, ornery, oyster, pointless, prat, screwball, senseless, sod, stupid, unwise, vacant, wacky, weak, weak-minded, whacky, witless, wood-headed, zany). (various references)

Bulgarian 

своенравен (capricious, crotchety, temperamental, vagarious, wayward, wilful, wrongheaded, wry), вироглав (headstrong, unmanageable), опърничав (contumacious, impracticable, shrewish, untoward, vixenish), опак (cantankerous, contrary, crabby, cranky, cross-grained, rambunctious, restive, reverse, wayward, wrong), превратен (inconstant), погрешен (awry, erroneous, false, faulty, illegitimate, improper, inaccurate, incorrect, mis-, misguided, mistaken, off beat, unsound, untrue, vicious, wonky, wrong, wrongful), перверзен (sick), извратен (crooked, depraved, distorted, kinky, perverted, sick). (various references)

Chinese 

愎 (obstinate), 悖 (rebellious, to rebel). (various references)

Czech

perverzní, zvrhlý (degenerate), zvrácený (upside down), zarytý (dyed in the wool, hard core, obdurate), úchylný (deviant). (various references)

Danish

pervers. (various references)

Dutch

verdorven (depraved), pervers. (various references)

Esperanto

perversa. (various references)

Faeroese

órættvorðin. (various references)

Farsi 

فاسد (Corrupt, Dissolute, Gamy, Immoral, Putrid, Rake, Rancid, Reechy, Reprobate, Rotten, Sedition, Sinister, Untoward, Vicious, Vile, Villainous), منحرف (Aberrant, Amiss, Astray, Awry, Deviant, Devious, Hellbent, Lost, Oblique, Pervert, Skew), هرزه (Bawdy, Dissolute, Harlot, Immoral, Lascivious, Lewd, Libertine, Licentious, Loose, Profligate, Prurient, Rake, Rakish, Reprobate, Ribald, Salacious, Sordid), گمراه (Aberrant, Amiss, Astray, Devious, Heterodox), درخطا. (various references)

French

pervers (perverted), obstiné (persevering, persistent, pertinacious), mauvais, entêté (pertinacious). (various references)

German

pervers (gay, kinky, perversely, perverted, sick, warped), verkehrt (amiss, consorts, contrary, incorrect, inverse, inversely, inverted, opposite, perversely, topsy turvy, upside down, wrong, wrongly). (various references)

Greek 

ανάποδοσ (back hand, untoward), διεστραμμένοσ (aberrant, bestial, crooked, cross-grained, distorted, pervert, perverted). (various references)

Hebrew 

מושחת (corrupt, corruptible, debauchee, naughty, punk, rotten, sordid, vicious), מעוות (deformed, distorted, drawn, malformed), פתלתול (bent, crooked, curved, serpentine, twisted), סוט�" (aberrant, deviant, divergent), � פתל (crooked, twisted), � עו�" (crooked, distorted, twisted). (various references)

Hungarian

romlott (blown, corrupt, debauched, depraved, dissolute, rank, rotten, unsound), perverz (kinky, wrong-headed), megátalkodott (cussed, froward, handful, impenitent, peevish), elferdült (out of true, skewed, twisted), ellentmondó (conflicting, contradictious, contradictor, contradictory, inconsistent, inconsonant, thwarting), eltévelyedett (aberrant), fajtalan (lewd, libidinous, pervert, prurient), fonák (anomalous, awry, backhand stroke), fonák természetű, kifacsarodott, csökönyös (as stubborn as a mule, balky, bullet-headed, froward, hide-bound, indocile, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, ornery, pigheaded, restive, rusty, wayward, wrong-headed), konok (bullet-headed, froward, hard-headed, intractable, mulish, obdurate, refractory, self willed, self-willed, stiff, stubborn, sullen), züllött (debauched, depraved, dissipated, lecherous, lewd, libertine, perverted, raffish), meggyőzhetetlen, mindentől idegenkedő, rendellenes (abnormal, anomalous, atypical, displacement, irregular), természetellenes (it is against nature, preposterous, unnatural), visszás (anomalous, preposterous, thwarting), kificamodott (out of joint, sprained, wrenched). (various references)

Indonesian

suka menentang (argumentative). (various references)

Italian

perverso (cussed), errato (devious, false), cattivo (airy-fairy, bad, evil, foul, frolic, frolicsome, ill, ill natured, mad, malicious, miserable, nasty, naughty, petulant, poor, spiteful, unkind, vicious, wicked), avverso (abhorrent, adverse, averse, ill, opposed). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

佞姦 (treacherous, wicked), 佞奸 (treacherous, wicked). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ねいか�" (treacherous, wicked). (various references)

Manx

roonagh (ill intentioned; runic, malicious, malignant, secret, stubborn, vicious, vindictive), noi'n troa (against the stream), noi-freihagh (controversial, petulant, reluctant, uncooperative, wilful), frowartagh (stubborn), frourtagh (freak, freakish, froward, perverse person), camlaagagh (crook, crook person, illicit, morally crooked, obstinate, tortuous), cam (bent, crooked, deceitful, deformed, intricate, knotty; cam, rakish angle, wry). (various references)

Pig Latin

erversepay.(various references)

Portuguese

perverso (cantankerous, damnable, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, evil, ill-conditioned, malicious, malignant, mischievous, nasty, naughty, nefarious, sinful, unjust, unnatural, unrighteous, vicious, vile, villainous, viperous, wicked), malvado (bad, black-hearted, candle-wick, evil, felon, felonious, flagitious, heavy, ill-conditioned, malicious, mean, mean-spirited, mischievous, nasty, nefarious, reprobate, scoundrelly, vicious, villain, wicked, wrong). (various references)

Romanian

potrivnic (antagonist, averse, hostile, loath), pervertit (corrupt, perverted, sophisticated, vicious), ticãlos (a bad egg, base, cad, canting, cur, dark, dirty, felon, foul, heel, hound, impious, kite, knave, knavish, knavishly, low-minded, mean, meanly, miscreant, paltry, picaroon, rapscallion, rascal, rascally, recreant, reprobate, ruffian, scab, scabby, scamp, scoundrel, scurvy, serpentine, shabby, skunk, sneak, sneaking, vile, villain, villainous, wretch, wretched), stricat (addle, bad, broken, broken down, carrion, close, corrupt, corrupted, dead, decayed, defaced, depraved, deteriorated, dilapidated, disabled, diseased, dissolute, foul, fusty, graceless, immoral, injured, loose, meretricious, niffy, out of order, polluted, rakehelly, rotten, spoilt, stuffy, tainted, vicious, vitiated), rãu (Amiss, atrocious, awkward, awry, bad, bad for, bad-hearted, badly, baleful, black, bum, corrupt, depraved, evil, flagitious, foul, haggish, harm, ill, immoral, lousy, malefic, maleficent, malicious, malign, mischief, mischievous, miserable, naughty, rough, scoundrel, sickness, thin, unspeakable, useless, venomous, vicious, vile, wicked, wretched, wrong), nedrept (foully, iniquitous, injurious, inofficious, undue, unfair, unjust, unlawful, wicked, wrong, wrongful), mofturos (dainty, demure, fastidious, finical, finicking, fractious, Froward, humoursome, naughty, nice, particular, peevish, picky, qualmish, squeamish), greşit (abroad, Amiss, astray, awry, bad, badly, erroneous, erroneously, fallacious, false, faultily, faulty, incorrect, misled, mistaken, out of square, spurious, unfair, unjust, unlawful, vicious, wrong, wrongheaded), capricios (arbitrary, capricious, cranky, crotchety, difficult, fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, fitful, fractious, freakish, frolic, Froward, humoursome, peevish, vagarious, wanton, wayward, whimsical, whimsy), îndãrãtnic (cussed, indomitable, obdurate, obstinate, pig-headed, restive, self willed, stubborn, stubbornly, wilful), încãpãţânat (awkward, contumacious, die hard, dogged, dour, hard, headstrong, inveterate, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, opinioned, pertinacious, pig-headed, refractory, royalist, self willed, stolid, stubborn, tough, unwilling, wilful). (various references)

Russian 

порочный (evil, unholy, vicious). (various references)

Scottish

tiachair, reasgach (irascible, restive, stubborn), crosda (fretful, ill-natured, peevish), coirbte (wicked). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

perverzan (perverted), zadrt (obsessed, possessed, stubborn), razvratan (abandoned, cypriote, debauched, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, obscene, wild), izopačen (corrupted, deviant, garbled, perverted, reprobate). (various references)

Spanish

perverso (abandoned, debauched, evil, perverted, unnatural, vicious, wicked). (various references)

Swedish

vresig (crabbed, cross, cross-grained, crotchety, crusty, disagreeable, grouchy, gruff, grumpy, ill-humored, ill-humoured, morose, peevish, ratty, sulky, vinegary). (various references)

Turkish

ters (acrimonious, adverse, agley, Amiss, awkward, awry, backward, backwards, bad tempered, bloody minded, churlish, contradictory, contrary, converse, counter, crabbed, cranky, curt, cussed, dour, face down, fractious, fretful, Froward, frowning, grumpy, ill natured, illegitimate, indecorous, inimical, inverse, inversely, inverted, mis-, negative, off, opposing, opposite, retro-, reverse, snuffy, sub-, unfavorable, unfavourable, upside down, versed, wayward, wrong, wrongly), sapık (aberrant, Dotty, pervert, perverted, unnatural, wacky), kötü huylu (bad tempered, cankered, ill bred, ill disposed, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-affected, ill-humored, ill-humoured, of bad character, wicked), inatçı (balky, bullet-head, bull-headed, cantankerous, contrary, contumacious, cussed, die hard, difficult, dogged, dour, fractious, hard bitten, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, hard-nosed, headstrong, heady, indocile, inflexible, insistent, intractable, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, obstinate person, opinionated, persistent, pertinacious, pigheaded, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stern, sticker, stickler, sticky, stiff necked, strongheaded, strong-willed, stubborn, tenacious, unbending, uncompromising, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), huysuz (acrimonious, as cross as two sticks, bad tempered, bilious, cantankerous, churlish, crabbed, crabby, crank, cranky, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, crusty, cursed, difficult, disagreeable, disgruntled, doggish, farouche, fractious, fretful, gnarled, grouchy, gruff, grumbling, grumpy, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, liverish, mean, Moody, out of humour, out of sorts, peeved, peevish, peppery, pettish, petulant, prickly, quarrelsome, querulous, ratty, rusty, shirty, snappish, spleenful, spleenish, splenetic, stroppy, sulky, surly, tetchy, thrawn, ugly, untoward, vicious, vixenish, waspish, wildcat, wrongheaded), bozuk (addle, bad, broken, broken down, bum, damaged, dead, deranged, dirty, disappointed, dished, disordered, distorted, doric, embroiled, faulty, flyblown, foul, gone, hard set, haywire, heavy, hipshot, imperfect, in bad order, irregular, kaput, knackered, off, on the fritz, out of action, out of commission, out of gear, out of order, putrefacient, putrefactive, putrid, rancid, rotten, stale, touched, unsound, upset, vicious, wrong), aksi (adverse, awkward, bad tempered, bilious, bloody minded, cantankerous, contra, contra-, contrary, counter, crabbed, crabby, cross, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, doggish, dour, evil, fractious, fretful, Froward, gruff, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, inverse, negatory, opposite, peevish, petulant, recalcitrant, refractory, reverse, shirty, snappish, snuffy, spleenful, spleenish, stroppy, stubborn, sullen, surly, tart, testy, unfavorable, unfavourable, unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky, untoward, wrongheaded). (various references)

Ukrainian

упертий (asinine, bullheaded, churlish, cobby, contumacious, cross-grained, difficile, disobedient, dogged, hard-nosed, headstrong, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, opinioned, patient, persistent, pertinacious, piggish, pigheaded, rebellious, reluctant, restive, rowdy, self-opinionated, set, stiff necked, strong-willed, stubborn, wilful, willful), вередливий (fastidious, naughty, queasy, squeamish), порочний (cammed, dark, depraved, gallows, naughty, rampant, vicious, wicked). (various references)

Vietnamese 

oan; ngược lại lời chứng, ngang ngạnh (defiant), khư khư giữ lấy sai lầm, khó tính (cantankerous, difficile, finical, finicking, finicky, finikin, miminy-piminy, nicely, select, unaccommodating), hư thân mất nết, đ�"i truỵ cáu kỉnh. (various references)

Welsh

pen.gam (wrong-headed), trofaus, traws (cross, froward), gwyrdraws, atgas (dispicable, hateful, odious), afrywiog (cross-grained, harsh, improper, rising). (various references)

improbus, perversa, perversae, perversarum, perverse, perversi, perverso, perversorum, perversus, prava, pravae, pravam, pravis, pravo, pravorum, pravum, pravus. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "perverse": perversely, perverseness, perversenesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Perverse" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Pavaresh, peevers, pereires, Perver, pervers, perversest, Pervyse, peversed, preverse, prevorsek. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: preserve.

-1 letter: reserve, reveres, reverse, severer.

-2 letters: peeves, reeves, revere, revers, server, severe, verser, vesper.

-3 letters: epees, peers, peeve, perse, prees, prese, reeve, resee, serer, serve, sever, speer, spree, veeps, veers, verse.

-4 letters: epee, errs, ever, eves, peer, pees, pree, rees, reps, revs, seep, seer, sere, veep, veer, vees.

-5 letters: ere, err, ers, eve, pee, per, pes.

+1 letter: persevere, preserved, preserver, preserves, reprieves.

+2 letters: perceivers, persevered, perseveres, perversely, perversive, perverters, preservers, preservice, preventers, previewers, repressive.

+3 letters: overprecise, overspender, perseverate, persevering, preservable.

+4 letters: cryopreserve, eavesdropper, irrespective, overexposure, overoperates, overpersuade, overpressure, overspenders, perseverance, perseverated, perseverates, perverseness, perversities, preservative, receivership, redevelopers, repercussive, reprehensive, repressively.

+5 letters: cryopreserved, cryopreserves, eavesdroppers, herpesviruses, overexposures, overimpressed, overimpresses, overpersuaded, overpersuades, overprescribe, overpressures, overprocessed, overprocesses, overresponded, peradventures, perseverances, perseverating, perseveration, perseveringly, pervertedness, predeliveries, preinterviews, preservatives, receiverships, retrospective, superachiever.