perverse vs perverted :

perverse or perverted

The sex-related meanings of words tend to drive out all other meanings. Most people think of both “perverse” and “perverted” only in contexts having to do with desire; but “perverse” properly has the function of signifying “stubborn,” “wrong-headed.” Nothing erotic is suggested by this sort of thing: “Josh perversely insisted on carving wooden replacement parts for his 1958 Ford’s engine.” It’s better to use “perverted” in relation to abnormal sexual desires; but this word also has non-sexual functions, as in “The bake-sale was perverted by Gladys into a fundraiser for her poker habit.”People sometimes mispronounce “pervert” as “PREE-vert.”

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Definitions

  • s  marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
    took perverse satisfaction in foiling her plans
  • s  resistant to guidance or discipline
    a perverse mood
  • s  deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good

  • v  corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
  • v  practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive
  • v  change the inherent purpose or function of something
  • s  (used of sexual behavior) showing or appealing to bizarre or deviant tastes
    perverted practices
  • s  having an intended meaning altered or misrepresented
    a perverted translation of the poem
  • s  deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good
    a perverted sense of loyalty
News & Articles

  • Wish you weren't here
    FILM Austrian Ulrich Seidl has been making films since the early 1980s, but didn't get much attention internationally until 2001's Dog Days , a bleak and nasty ensemble piece about some seemingly ordinary — but all variably pathetic, ugly and/or perverse — Viennese suburbanites sweating through a heat wave.
    June 12, 2013 - San Francisco Bay Guardian
  • Wish you weren't here
    FILM Austrian Ulrich Seidl has been making films since the early 1980s, but didn't get much attention internationally until 2001's Dog Days , a bleak and nasty ensemble piece about some seemingly ordinary — but all variably pathetic, ugly and/or perverse — Viennese suburbanites sweating through a heat wave.
    June 12, 2013 - San Francisco Bay Guardian
  • Essential Links
    User Panel Options!! A record of decadent, perverse, feel-weird hits of the winter. Just in time for summer. It should go without saying but it needs to said: this is an intricate, jarring and complicated piece of work and is undeniably brilliant.
    June 8, 2013 - metacritic

  • Garrett man found guilty in rape trial
    A Garrett County Circuit Court jury Monday afternoon found James Leroy House, 51, Oakland, guilty of first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense, unnatural and perverted sex practice, sodomy and false imprisonment.
    June 10, 2013 - Cumberland Times-News
  • Garrett man found guilty in rape trial
    A Garrett County Circuit Court jury Monday afternoon found James Leroy House, 51, Oakland, guilty of first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense, unnatural and perverted sex practice, sodomy and false imprisonment.
    June 10, 2013 - Cumberland Times-News