Perverse
[pə'vɜːs] or [pɚ'vɝs]
Definition
(adj.) marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict; 'took perverse satisfaction in foiling her plans' .
Edited by Ellis--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Turned aside; hence, specifically, turned away from the right; willfully erring; wicked; perverted.
(a.) Obstinate in the wrong; stubborn; intractable; hence, wayward; vexing; contrary.
Typed by Amalia
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Distorted (from the right), bad.[2]. Obstinate, stubborn, wilful, dogged, mulish, untractable, unyielding, headstrong, pertinacious, wayward, CANTANKEROUS, PIG-HEADED.[3]. Cross, petulant, waspish, captious, snappish, touchy, testy, crusty, churlish, crabbed, froward, morose, surly, snarling, ill-tempered, ill-natured.
Edited by Jacqueline
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Froward, untoward, stubborn, fractious, wayward, unmanageable, intractable,crochety
ANT:Docile, ductile, amenable, governable, complacent, accommodating, pleasant,obliging
Editor: Rosanne
Definition
adj. turned aside: obstinate in the wrong: stubborn: vexatious.—adv. Perverse′ly.—ns. Perverse′ness Perver′sity state or quality of being perverse: inclination to oppose: wickedness.—adj. Perver′sive tending to pervert.
Editor: Margie
Examples
- I find them irrational, perverse; they hinder me when I long to hurry forward. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- And yet, I was perverse enough to feel a chill and disappointment in receiving no welcome, and rattling, alone and silent, through the misty streets. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- What you are is a foul, deathly thing, obscene, that's what you are, obscene and perverse. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Yet I am of opinion, this defect arises chiefly from a perverse, restive disposition; for they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- If they were more provident and less perverse, ma'am, what would they do? Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Every society gets encumbered with what is trivial, with dead wood from the past, and with what is positively perverse. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- As that street-door closed, a sudden amazement at my own perverse proceeding struck like a blow upon me. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- At this moment she felt angry with the perverse Sir James. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- You are so PERVERSE, so death-eating. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- He knew he was perverse, so spiritual on the one hand, and in some strange way, degraded, on the other. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Thus interest and mind are either narrowed, or else made perverse. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- These perverse movements arrested my attention, they struck me as of a character fearfully familiar. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- It is to make you feel your life strongly--not only your virtues, but your vicious, perverse points. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Some perverse will made him watch his father drawn over the borders of life. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- This is a perverse lock, if ever there was one yet. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
Checked by Bertrand