perversity

[ per-vur-si-tee ]

noun

, plural per·ver·si·ties

1. a willful tendency or determination to go counter to what is expected or desired, sometimes for no apparent reason; contrariness:

   On Thanksgiving, out of sheer perversity, he brought up a topic that was almost taboo for his family.

2. the quality of being, or having an effect, exactly contrary to what is expected or desired:

   The administration was slow to acknowledge the perversity of their welfare reform, which has given the underemployed an incentive to become unemployed.

3. persistence or obstinacy in what is wrong:

   She again rejected her parents' advice with self-defeating perversity.

4. a turning away from or rejection of thoughts and deeds one knows are right, good, or proper; wickedness or corruption:

   The preacher lamented the perversity of mankind that began in the Garden of Eden.

5. an instance of willful contrariety, obstinacy, or wickedness, or an outcome directly opposite to one’s intentions or expectations:

   One of the perversities of the system is that the worse one’s crime in one’s home country, the more likely one is to gain asylum.

perversity

/ pəˈvɜːsɪtɪ /

noun

1. the quality or state of being perverse
2. a perverse action, comment, etc

Other Words From

• non·per·ver·si·ty noun plural nonperversities

Word History and Origins

Origin of perversity¹

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English, from Old French perversité, from Latin perversitāt-, stem of perversitās “wrongheadedness, unreasonableness”; perverse, -ity

Example Sentences

What stands in the way is mostly the perversity of our political system, which helped empower Trump in the first place.

From Salon

“It is embarrassing that an athlete feels comfortable to commit such perversity as if all he achieved through sport will stop him from being punished.”

From Seattle Times

They moved on to other cases, but Ramos’ pervasiveness and perversity haunted the two.

From Los Angeles Times

A bizarre, absurdist dark comedy about three siblings kept confined at home by their controlling father, “Dogtooth” had stunned audiences at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival with its deadpan perversity, earning an Oscar nomination for foreign language feature.

From Los Angeles Times

The most astonishing aspect of the Oher story is that virtually no one who read the book, or saw the movie, chose to recognize this perversity.

From Los Angeles Times