Perverse

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Perverse \Per*verse"\ (p[~e]r*v[~e]rs"), a. [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.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              The only righteous in a world perverse. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Obstinate in the wrong; stubborn; intractable; hence,
        wayward; vexing; contrary.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To so perverse a sex all grace is vain. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  perverse
       adj 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