Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being perverse; disposition to be contrary, or to thwart or cross; corruption; wickedness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being perverse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of being perverse; obstinacy or doggedness

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun deliberately deviating from what is good
  • noun deliberate and stubborn unruliness and resistance to guidance or discipline

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It follows, that the desire to be well must be excited simultaneously with any principle which shall be merely a modification of combativeness, but in the case of that something which I term perverseness, the desire to be well is not only aroused, but a strongly antagonistical sentiment exists.

    The Imp of the Perverse 1845

  • It follows, that the desire to be well must be excited simultaneously with any principle which shall be merely a modification of combativeness, but in the case of that something which I term perverseness, the desire to be well is not only not aroused, but a strongly antagonistical sentiment exists.

    The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 Edgar Allan Poe 1829

  • Note, Those that are faithless will be perverse; and perverseness is sin in its worst colours.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

  • But there still clung to her what I fear we must call a perverseness of obstinacy, a desire to maintain the resolution she had made -- a wish that she might be allowed to undergo the punishment she had deserved.

    Can You Forgive Her? 1993

  • But there still clung to her what I fear we must call a perverseness of obstinacy,

    Can you forgive her? 1864

  • I fear we must call a perverseness of obstinacy, a desire to maintain the resolution she had made, -- a wish that she might be allowed to undergo the punishment she had deserved.

    Can You Forgive Her? Anthony Trollope 1848

  • Induction, a posteriori, would have brought phrenology to admit, as an innate and primitive principle of human action, a paradoxical something, which we may call perverseness, for want of a more characteristic term.

    The Imp of the Perverse 1845

  • Induction, a posteriori, would have brought phrenology to admit, as an innate and primitive principle of human action, a paradoxical something, which we may call perverseness, for want of a more characteristic term.

    The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 Edgar Allan Poe 1829

  • But, with the perverseness which is often seen among women, who are but fools at best, though made to be loved, she had placed her affections upon a youth, who had distinguished himself by no valiant deeds in war, nor even by industry or dexterity in the chase.

    Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 3) James Athearn Jones

  • With the perverseness which is often seen among women, she had placed her affections upon a youth who had distinguished himself by no valiant deeds in war, nor by industry or dexterity in the chase.

    Folk-Lore and Legends: North American Indian Anonymous

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