Perversion

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The action of perverting someone or something; humiliation; debasement. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the action of perverting something (turning it to a wrong use) wordnet
  3. 3
    The state of being perverted; depravity; vice. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    an aberrant sexual practice wordnet
  5. 5
    Distortion or corruption of the original course, meaning, or state of something. countable, uncountable

    "After all, the great error in human judgment is not so much wilful perversion, as that we judge according to situation, and always make that situation our own; while the chances are, that we really have not one thought, feeling, or habit, in common with those on whom we yet think ourselves qualified to decide."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    a curve that reverses the direction of something wordnet
  2. 7
    A sexual practice considered abnormal; sexual deviance. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    Tendril perversion. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
corruptiondefilementdepravationpollutionabasementaberrancy

Example

More examples

"Harnessing electricity, said the man with the bongos, is a sinful perversion of the earth's resources."

Etymology

From Latin perversio, from pervertere (“corrupt”).

Related phrases

tendril perversion

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.