Perversity
[pə'vɜːsɪtɪ]
Definition
(noun.) deliberately deviating from what is good; 'there will always be a few people who, through macho perversity, gain satisfaction from bullying and terrorism'.
Editor: Sweeney--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The quality or state of being perverse; perverseness.
Checked by Abby
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Perverseness.
Edited by Joanne
Examples
- The matter begins and ends with the boy's own perversity and folly. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- For the second time--with the frantic perversity of a roused woman--she caught me by the arm, and barred my way out. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Why this perversity, if it were not in a generous fit? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Yet a certain perversity would not let her. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I thought it was utterly preposterous--I distrusted it as the result of some perversity in my own imagination. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I let you go as a babe, because you were pretty, and I feared your loveliness, deeming it the stamp of perversity. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The best of us have a spice of perversity in us, especially when we are young and in love. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Inclination as well as perversity made the decision easy, and being already much excited, Meg opposed the old lady with unusual spirit. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- A spirit of perversity moved her son to rejoin: I don't think it was a question of taste with her. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- It is impossible for me to excuse the perversity that holds you responsible for consequences which neither you nor I could imagine or foresee. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- They have their days of perversity, and this morning was one of them. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- And what a distortion in your judgment, what a perversity in your ideas, is proved by your conduct! Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
Typist: Lottie