PERVERT

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pervert mean? 

• PERVERT (noun)
  The noun PERVERT has 1 sense:

1. a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

  Familiarity information: PERVERT used as a noun is very rare.

• PERVERT (verb)
  The verb PERVERT has 3 senses:

1. corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality

2. practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive

3. change the inherent purpose or function of something

  Familiarity information: PERVERT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERVERT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

degenerate; deviant; deviate; pervert

Hypernyms ("pervert" is a kind of...):

miscreant; reprobate (a person without moral scruples)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pervert"):

masochist (someone who obtains pleasure from receiving punishment)

bugger; sod; sodomist; sodomite (someone who engages in anal copulation (especially a male who engages in anal copulation with another male))

lech; lecher; letch; satyr (man with strong sexual desires)

sadomasochist (someone who enjoys both sadism and masochism)

sadist (someone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain on others)

paedophile; pedophile (an adult who is sexually attracted to children)

child molester; paederast; pederast (a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner)

nympho; nymphomaniac (a woman with abnormal sexual desires)

fetishist (one who engages in fetishism (especially of a sexual nature))

Derivation:

pervert (corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality)

• PERVERT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pervert ... he / she / it perverts
Past simple: perverted   
Past participle: perverted   
-ing form: perverting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

corrupt; debase; debauch; demoralise; demoralize; deprave; misdirect; pervert; profane; subvert; vitiate

Context example:

corrupt the morals

Hypernyms (to "pervert" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pervert"):

carnalise; carnalize; sensualise; sensualize (debase through carnal gratification)

infect (corrupt with ideas or an ideology)

lead astray; lead off (teach immoral behavior to)

poison (spoil as if by poison)

bastardise; bastardize (change something so that its value declines; for example, art forms)

suborn (incite to commit a crime or an evil deed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

perversive (tending to corrupt or pervert)

pervert (a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

convolute; pervert; sophisticate; twist; twist around

Context example:

Don't twist my words

Hypernyms (to "pervert" is one way to...):

denote; refer (have as a meaning)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Change the inherent purpose or function of something

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

abuse; misuse; pervert

Context example:

The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers

Hypernyms (to "pervert" is one way to...):

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pervert"):

fracture (violate or abuse)

take in vain (use a name, such as God, without proper respect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

perversion (the action of perverting something (turning it to a wrong use))

 Context examples 

Mystery; Finesse—how they pervert the understanding!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Thus the lessons of my life have been perverted!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But when some confessed they owed their greatness and wealth to sodomy, or incest; others, to the prostituting of their own wives and daughters; others, to the betraying of their country or their prince; some, to poisoning; more to the perverting of justice, in order to destroy the innocent, I hope I may be pardoned, if these discoveries inclined me a little to abate of that profound veneration, which I am naturally apt to pay to persons of high rank, who ought to be treated with the utmost respect due to their sublime dignity, by us their inferiors.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The man who reviews his own life, as I do mine, in going on here, from page to page, had need to have been a good man indeed, if he would be spared the sharp consciousness of many talents neglected, many opportunities wasted, many erratic and perverted feelings constantly at war within his breast, and defeating him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In answer to which I assured his honour, that in all points out of their own trade, they were usually the most ignorant and stupid generation among us, the most despicable in common conversation, avowed enemies to all knowledge and learning, and equally disposed to pervert the general reason of mankind in every other subject of discourse as in that of their own profession.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

His majesty, in another audience, was at the pains to recapitulate the sum of all I had spoken; compared the questions he made with the answers I had given; then taking me into his hands, and stroking me gently, delivered himself in these words, which I shall never forget, nor the manner he spoke them in: My little friend Grildrig, you have made a most admirable panegyric upon your country; you have clearly proved, that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for qualifying a legislator; that laws are best explained, interpreted, and applied, by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding, and eluding them.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)