as in corrupt
having or showing lowered moral character or standards
the perverted values of a society that had taken permissiveness to the extreme
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in distorted
to change so much as to create a wrong impression or alter the meaning of
that summary really perverts the other candidate's views on taxes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in corrupted
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
a movie that perverted the Bible story by reveling in the sinners' lewd behavior until just before the moment of divine retribution
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in abused
to put to a bad or improper use
accused of perverting the Internal Revenue Service by using it to harass political opponents
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of perverted
Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 25 Mar. 2026
This creates a jarring effect as the significance of her busy endeavours is sublimated by the perverted impulse to judge her physical form.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 16 Feb. 2026
Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
Even more poignant, however, is the Rosemary's Baby angle, where the innocence of childhood is drowned in blood and the notion that a young person reared in a loving environment should develop into a compassionate adult is perverted into unthinkable horror.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 8 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for perverted
Adjective
But even by its perverted lights, those numbers don’t convey a booming economy screaming for restraint.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 25 Mar. 2026
This creates a jarring effect as the significance of her busy endeavours is sublimated by the perverted impulse to judge her physical form.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 16 Feb. 2026
Verb
Murry corrupted and perverted and destroyed Katherine both as a person and a writer […] Her gifts were those of an intense realist, with a superb sense of ironic humour and fundamental cynicism.
—Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
Even more poignant, however, is the Rosemary's Baby angle, where the innocence of childhood is drowned in blood and the notion that a young person reared in a loving environment should develop into a compassionate adult is perverted into unthinkable horror.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 8 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for perverted
Recent Examples of Synonyms for perverted
Adjective
-
There's a corrupt deal happening at the biggest levels among the billionaire class to increase their wealth at the expense of many people are suffering greatly right now.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 June 2026
-
The police are a corrupt institution.—
Grace Byron,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
Verb
-
Conservatives cannot allow our discourse to be distorted by manipulative foreign amplification.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Dec. 2025
-
The quality of my work varied; sometimes, in my desperation to document, to fill in all the archival gaps, to address what was unknown or distorted, the telling would suffer.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
Others have argued against the premise of the rules altogether, disputing the assertion that the City Council is being, or could be, corrupted by outside money.—
R. Christian Smith,
Chicago Tribune,
7 June 2026
-
Systems must remain safe not only when components fail naturally, but when data is corrupted, communication is interrupted or execution is violated.—
John Wall,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
Verb
-
None of those mothers were found to have abused or neglected their children.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
10 June 2026
-
Moreover, the states often abused their authority, both over their own citizens and with regard to each other.—
Jordan Cash,
The Conversation,
8 June 2026
Adjective
-
Even when degraded, enzymes have stable backbones that might be capable of catalyzing reactions, said Sudha Rajamani, an astrobiologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune who wasn’t involved in the study.—
Siddhant Pusdekar,
Quanta Magazine,
1 June 2026
-
Air force and air defenses The Revolutionary Air Force and Air Defense Force are widely regarded as the most degraded branch of Cuba’s military.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
28 May 2026
Verb
-
In the filing, Chauvin claims his conviction should be vacated, saying flawed medical testimony, misrepresented police training and faulty jury instructions warrant a new trial or evidentiary hearing.—
Stephen Sorace,
FOXNews.com,
4 Dec. 2025
-
Western media has often misrepresented Sudan with its own agenda.—
Essie Assibu,
Variety,
20 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Trump's No Kings video was truly depraved.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
20 Oct. 2025
-
DiCaprio has played disturbed and depraved individuals in Scorsese’s films before, but Killers of the Flower Moon is something different.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
But Collins' victory may come as good news to Democrats, eager to run against his closeness with the president amid unpopular White House policies, along with highlighting allegations that Collins misused congressional funds, which is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.—
Kaia Hubbard,
CBS News,
16 June 2026
-
Anthropic said that there are safeguards in place to prevent the AI system from being misused for cybersecurity tasks and that no tester has been able to broadly bypass these guardrails.—
Queenie Wong,
Los Angeles Times,
16 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Perverted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/perverted. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
