Pervert
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 One who has been perverted; one who has turned to error, or adopted a twisted sense of values or morals. dated
"And yet it is not only tolerated, but perverts are making to it in England and this country, — perverts among the intelligent and the learned. For these things, which I have quoted, are not accusations made in a corner, but have been published in the face of the world by one of the profoundest theologians of the day, and challenge confutation."
- 2 a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior wordnet
- 3 A person whose sexual habits are not considered acceptable.
"Those perverts were trying to spy on us while we changed clothes!"
- 1 To turn another way; to divert. transitive
"Let's follow him, and pervert the present wrath."
- 2 change the inherent purpose or function of something wordnet
- 3 To corrupt; to cause to be untrue; corrupted or otherwise impure transitive
"How could stopping someone from killing himself or herself "pervert the course of justice"?"
- 4 practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive wordnet
- 5 To misapply, misuse, use for a nefarious purpose
"He has perverted his talents to dishonest gain."
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- 6 corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality wordnet
- 7 to misinterpret designedly.
"pervert one's words"
- 8 To become perverted; to take the wrong course. intransitive
"After that worde, "better is it to dey than lyve false," and al wolde perverted people false reporte make"
Example
More examples"There is no such thing, at this stage of the world’s history in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my papers, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."
Etymology
From Old French pervertir, itself from the Latin pervertō.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.