Sample sentences for PERVERSE - verbalworkout.com

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Definition

not what is expected, or considered proper

or: having the opposite effect of what is desired

She took perverse satisfaction in spoiling his plans.

perverse = not what is expected, or considered proper

or: having the opposite effect of what is desired

a perverse mood
Discovering him, seeing his surprise, and presented at once with choices, Winnie's mind perversely went blank.
Natalie Babbitt -- Tuck Everlasting

perversely = in a manner that is the opposite of what is desired

Still there was something perverse in his searching. Like exhausting the least likely places first when looking for something lost.
Cormac McCarthy -- The Road

perverse = a deviation from what is considered reasonable or good

It was more than childish perversity,
Franz Kafka -- Metamorphosis

perversity = not what is expected, or considered proper

or: having the opposite effect of what is desired

I knew she was only doing it for her sick, perverted pleasure.
Dave Pelzer -- A Child Called It

perverted = deviated from what is considered reasonable, proper, or good

And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS.
Edgar Allan Poe -- The Black Cat

perverseness = not what is expected, or considered proper

or: having the opposite effect of what is desired

(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)

And since everyone at school already had a perverted image of me after Justin's little number, I was the perfect choice, wasn't I?
Jay Asher -- Thirteen Reasons Why

perverted = unpleasantly abnormal (deviation from what is considered reasonable, proper, or good)

Maybe that's kind of perverted or maybe it's just romantic and highly intelligent.
Sherman Alexie -- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

perverted = a deviation from what is reasonable, proper, or good

She had wanted to cough as soon as it occurred to her that she mustn't, and she passed a long hour trying to swallow away the tickle that perversely constricted her throat.
Natalie Babbitt -- Tuck Everlasting

perversely = in a manner that is the opposite of what is desired

But human nature is perverse.
Bronte, Charlotte -- The Professor
In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
Stephen Jay Gould
...you are perverse enough to provoke a saint
Alcott, Louisa May -- Little Women
What a curiously perverse opinion
le Gallienne, Richard -- The Quest of the Golden Girl
You have taken a perverse hatred to Frank; and you are unreasonably angry with me because I won't hate him, too.
Collins, Wilkie -- No Name
Frederica must be as much as sixteen, and ought to know better; but from what her mother insinuates, I am afraid she is a perverse girl.
Austen, Jane -- Lady Susan
Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy?
Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Uncle Tom's Cabin
It angered her that Gus had been so perverse as to extract such a promise.
Larry McMurtry -- Lonesome Dove
Pity links us in a perverted way, transcending our veneers, joining us in our vulnerability, and at the same time distancing us from one another.
Luis J. Rodriguez -- Always Running
Gaston's system seemed so perverse to him, but at the same time so effective, that he ventured to warn Amaranta Ursula.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- One Hundred Years of Solitude

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