perversity

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/pə(ɹ)ˈvɜː(ɹ)sɪti/

noun

The quality of being perverse.

UncommonScrabble 18

Meanings

nounperversity (countable and uncountable, plural perversities)

plural perversities

  1. countableuncountableThe quality of being perverse.
    1 more example

    Hey kids, the word of the week is "pupaphobia"! Others may enjoy being frightened by chainsaw-wielding maniacs and cannibal clowns, but my Halloween is never complete without a murderous Muppet or two. Thankfully, a pair of events last Friday the 13th provided a perfect double feature of puppet perversity.

    2017 October 18, Seth Kubersky, “A weekend full of puppetry-themed entertainment is just the ticket, unless you’re pupaphobic”, in Orlando Weekly
  2. countableuncountableSomething which is perverse.

    “Of all this world's perversities, there is only one I cannot abide: the kink-shame. I'm off!” “You can't walk out! I'm walking out!”

    2025 May 11, Monica Padrick, “Don Tyxote” (11:26 from the start), in Krapopolis, season 2, episode 21, spoken by Shlub (Matt Berry)
    1 more example

    More generally, for the ULD property to hold, the substitution effects (which are always well behaved) must be large enough to overcome possible “perversities” coming from the wealth effects.

    1995, Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael D. Whinston, and Jerry R. Green, Microeconomic Theory, Oxford University Press, page 112

Synonyms & antonyms

noundeliberate and stubborn unruliness and resistance to guidance or discipline

noundeliberately deviating from what is good

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinperversitās
  2. Middle Frenchperversité
  3. Englishperversity

From perverse + -ity, from Middle French perversité, from Latin perversitās.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan perversitat
  • perversitatthe quality of being perverse
Finnish perverssiys, kieroutuneisuus
  • perverssiysthe quality of being perverse
  • kieroutuneisuusthe quality of being perverse
  • perverssiyssomething which is perverse
German Perversität, Perversität
  • Perversitätthe quality of being perverse
  • Perversitätsomething which is perverse
Italian perversità
  • perversitàthe quality of being perverse
Polish perwersja, perwersja
  • perwersjathe quality of being perverse
  • perwersjasomething which is perverse
Portuguese perversidade
  • perversidadethe quality of being perverse
Romanian perversitate, perversitate
  • perversitatethe quality of being perverse
  • perversitatesomething which is perverse
Russian извращённость, извраще́ние
  • извращённость (izvraščónnostʹ)the quality of being perverse
  • извраще́ние (izvraščénije)something which is perverse
Spanish perversidad
  • perversidadthe quality of being perverse
Cite this entry
APA

perversity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perversity

MLA

“perversity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perversity. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “perversity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perversity.

Source: perversity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.