pervert

Pluralperverts

Formsperverts, perverting, perverted

1. 1
   creepnounderogatorycountable

   A person whose sexual habits are regarded as unacceptable.

   Quit staring at her like some kind of pervert.

   The comments section was overrun by perverts posting crude remarks under every photo.

   UsageStress falls on the first syllable (PERvert), unlike the verb (perVERT). Slang shortens it to perv.

   Similarperv

   Note

   Slang clips this sense to perv, and J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951) bends it into an adjective: "they're always being perverty when I'm around." The noun passes judgment rather than describing any particular practice. It names whoever is felt to have crossed a line. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Perv is a slang clipping of pervert in its sexual sense. en.wiktionary.org
   • J. D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye, first published in 1951. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quotation is exact and uses perverty adjectivally; it is Holden Caulfield's narration, rather than dialogue spoken by Salinger. core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To corrupt someone or something, leading a person away from what is right, or misusing a thing or turning it to a wrong or wicked purpose so that it becomes false, impure, or unjust.

   She was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after giving detectives a false alibi.

   Critics accused the propaganda ministry of perverting a whole generation of schoolchildren with lies about the war.

   UsageUsed in the legal phrase pervert the course of justice.

   Similarcorrupt, subvert, distort, warp, debase

   Note

   The verb works on people and on things, and the two read differently. A person is led astray: Milton's tempter, "in the serpent, had perverted Eve," and when the subject is belief this is the verb behind the dated religious noun. A thing is made false or impure, as in pervert the course of justice, the name of a crime in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. The closest US offense is obstruction of justice.

3. 3
   twist wordsverbtransitive

   To deliberately put a false interpretation on something, such as another person's words.

   Her opponents perverted her speech about tax fairness, claiming she had promised to raise everyone's taxes.

   It is easy to pervert a quotation by cutting it off in the middle of a sentence.

   Similartwist

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To become corrupted or twisted and take the wrong course.

   After that worde, "better is it to dey than lyve false," and al wolde perverted people false reporte make

   c. 1384, Thomas Usk, The Testament of Love

   Similardegenerate

   Note

   The one verb sense that takes no object: the subject goes wrong of its own accord rather than leading something else wrong. Thomas Usk's The Testament of Love, written in the 1380s and first printed in 1532, speaks of "perverted people" making false report, which can be read as people who have turned rather than been turned. Keep it apart from the passive of the corrupting sense: was perverted implies a corrupter, while this use places the change in the subject itself.

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