 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Perverse \Per*verse"\, adjective [L. perversus turned the wrong way, not right, p. p. of pervertereto turn around, to overturn: cf. F. pervers. See {Pervert}.]
1. Turned aside; hence, specifically, turned away from the right; willfully erring; wicked; perverted.
The only righteous in a word perverse. --Milton.
2. Obstinate in the wrong; stubborn; intractable; hence, wayward; vexing; contrary.
To so perverse a sex all grace is vain. --Dryden.
Syn: Froward; untoward; wayward; stubborn; ungovernable; intractable; cross; petulant; vexatious.
Usage: {Perverse}, {Froward}. One who is froward is capricious, and reluctant to obey. One who is perverse has a settled obstinacy of will, and likes or dislikes by the rule of contradiction to the will of others.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
perverse
adjective
1: marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict; "took perverse satisfaction in foiling her plans"
2: resistant to guidance or discipline; "Mary Mary quite contrary"; "an obstinate child with a violent temper"; "a perverse mood"; "wayward behavior" [syn: {contrary}, {obstinate}, {wayward}]
3: marked by immorality; deviating from what is considered right or proper or good; "depraved criminals"; "a perverted sense of loyalty"; "the reprobate conduct of a gambling aristocrat" [syn: {depraved}, {immoral}, {perverted}, {reprobate}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
211 Moby Thesaurus words for "perverse": aberrant, abroad, adamant, adrift, adversary, adversative, adverse, adversive, alien, all abroad, all off, all wrong, amiss, antagonistic, anti, antipathetic, antithetic, antonymous, askew, astray, at cross-purposes, at fault, awkward, awry, bad-tempered, balancing, balky, bearish, beside the mark, bilious, bitchy, breakaway, bulky, cankered, cantankerous, captious, churlish, clashing, clumsy, compensating, competitive, con, conflicting, confronting, contentious, contradicting, contradictory, contradistinct, contrapositive, contrarious, contrary, contrasted, converse, corrupt, counter, counteractant, counteracting, counteractive, counterbalancing, counterpoised, countervailing, counterworking, crabbed, crabby, cranky, cross, cross-grained, crosswise, crotchety, crusty, cumbersome, cussed, dead against, deceptive, defective, degenerate, delusive, depraved, deviant, deviational, deviative, difficult, disaccordant, disagreeable, discordant, discrepant, dissentient, dissident, distorted, enemy, errant, erring, erroneous, excitable, eyeball to eyeball, fallacious, false, faultful, faulty, feisty, flawed, fractious, froward, grouchy, headstrong, heretical, heterodox, hostile, huffish, huffy, hulking, hulky, ill-tempered, illogical, illusory, impractical, improper, inconsistent, inconvenient, incorrect, inflexible, inimical, intractable, inverse, irascible, irregular, irritable, mean, miscreant, mulish, nefarious, negative, nonconformist, noncooperative, not right, not true, obdurate, obstinate, obstreperous, obverse, off, off the track, opponent, opposed, opposing, opposite, oppositional, oppositive, oppugnant, ornery, out, overthwart, peccant, peevish, pertinacious, perverted, petulant, pigheaded, ponderous, putrid, quarrelsome, reactionary, recalcitrant, refractory, renitent, repugnant, resistant, restive, reverse, revolutionary, rival, rotten, self-contradictory, self-willed, snappish, spiteful, spleeny, splenetic, squared off, stiff-necked, straying, stubborn, stuffy, sulky, sullen, surly, testy, touchy, ugly, unbending, uncooperative, unfactual, unfair, unfavorable, unfriendly, unhandy, unhealthy, unmanageable, unorthodox, unpropitious, unproved, unreasonable, untrue, unwieldy, unyielding, villainous, waspish, wayward, wide, wrong, wrongheaded
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |