Adjacent Words

Pervert definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PERVERT', v.t. [L. perverto; per and verto, to turn.]
1. To turn from truth, propriety, or from its proper purpose; to distort from its true use or end; as, to pervert reason by misdirecting it; to pervert the laws by misinterpreting and misapplying them; to pervert justice; to pervert the meaning of an author; to pervert nature; to pervert truth.
2. To turn from the right; to corrupt.
He in the serpent had perverted Eve.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior [syn: pervert, deviant, deviate, degenerate] v
1: corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality; "debauch the young people with wine and women"; "Socrates was accused of corrupting young men"; "Do school counselors subvert young children?"; "corrupt the morals" [syn: corrupt, pervert, subvert, demoralize, demoralise, debauch, debase, profane, vitiate, deprave, misdirect]
2: practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive; "Don't twist my words" [syn: twist, twist around, pervert, convolute, sophisticate]
3: change the inherent purpose or function of something; "Don't abuse the system"; "The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers" [syn: pervert, misuse, abuse]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French purvertir, pervertir, from Latin pervertere to overturn, corrupt, pervert, from per- thoroughly + vertere to turn — more at per-, worth Date: 14th century 1. a. to cause to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right ; corrupt b. to cause to turn aside or away from what is generally done or accepted ; misdirect 2. a. to divert to a wrong end or purpose ; misuse b. to twist the meaning or sense of ; misinterpret Synonyms: see debase • perverter noun II. noun Date: circa 1661 one that has been perverted; specifically one given to some form of sexual perversion

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 turn (a person or thing) aside from its proper use or nature. 2 misapply or misconstrue (words etc.). 3 lead astray (a person, a person's mind, etc.) from right opinion or conduct, or esp. religious belief. 4 (as perverted adj.) showing perversion. --n. 1 a perverted person. 2 a person showing sexual perversion. Derivatives: perversive adj. pervertedly adv. perverter n. Etymology: ME f. OF pervertir or f. L pervertere (as PER-, vertere vers- turn): cf. CONVERT

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pervert Per*vert", v. i. To become perverted; to take the wrong course. [R.] --Testament of Love.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pervert Per"vert, n. One who has been perverted; one who has turned to error, especially in religion; -- opposed to convert. See the Synonym of Convert. That notorious pervert, Henry of Navarre. --Thackeray.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pervert Per*vert", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Perverted; p. pr. & vb. n. Perverting.] [F. pervertir, L. pervertere, perversum; per + vertere to turn. See Per-, and Verse.] 1. To turnanother way; to divert. [Obs.] Let's follow him, and pervert the present wrath. --Shak. 2. To turn from truth, rectitude, or propriety; to divert from a right use, end, or way; to lead astray; to corrupt; also, to misapply; to misinterpret designedly; as, to pervert one's words. --Dryden. He, in the serpent, had perverted Eve. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(perverted) 1. If you pervert something such as a process or society, you interfere with it so that it is not as good as it used to be or as it should be. (FORMAL) Any reform will destroy and pervert our constitution... VERB: V n [disapproval] 2. If someone perverts the course of justice, they deliberately do something that will make it difficult to discover who really committed a particular crime, for example, destroying evidence or lying to the police. (LEGAL) He was charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice. PHRASE: V inflects 3. If you say that someone is a pervert, you mean that you consider their behaviour, especially their sexual behaviour, to be immoral or unacceptable. N-COUNT [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Distort, stretch, falsify, make an ill use of, misinterpret. 2. Entice, tempt, corrupt. 3. Convert, proselyte. II. n. Apostate, proselyte.

Moby Thesaurus

abuse, adulterate, alloy, argue insincerely, backslider, bad egg, bad lot, bastardize, befoul, belie, bias, black sheep, brutalize, burlesque, camouflage, canker, caricature, cheapen, coarsen, color, confound, contaminate, contort, convert, corrupt, debase, debauch, debauchee, defalcate, defile, deflect, deflower, degenerate, degrade, demoralize, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, deviant, deviate, disguise, distort, divert, dress up, embellish, embezzle, embroider, exaggerate, fallen angel, falsify, foul, fudge, garble, get one wrong, get wrong, gild, gloss, gloss over, ill-treat, infect, lead astray, lecher, lost sheep, lost soul, maladminister, maltreat, mask, misadvise, misapply, misapprehend, misappropriate, miscite, miscolor, misconceive, misconstrue, miscreant, misdeem, misdirect, miseducate, misemploy, misexplain, misexplicate, misexpound, misguide, mishandle, misinform, misinstruct, misinterpret, misjudge, mislead, mismanage, misquote, misread, misrender, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, mistake, misteach, mistranslate, mistreat, misunderstand, misuse, mystify, obfuscate, obscure, outrage, overdraw, overstate, paralogize, parody, peculate, pilfer, pimp, poison, pollute, profane, profligate, prostitute, rationalize, ravage, ravish, reason ill, recidivist, recreant, reprobate, ruin, scapegrace, seduce, sex criminal, sex fiend, sexual deviant, sexual deviate, sexual pervert, sexual psychopath, sidetrack, slant, sorry lot, squeeze, strain, strain the sense, subvert, taint, titivate, torture, travesty, trick out, trollop, turn aside, turn away, twist, twist the words, ulcerate, understate, varnish, violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, weirdo, whitewash, whore, wrench