Definition

1. Noun:
   • Deliberate deviation from what is right or good: The quality or state of being willfully contrary, especially by persisting in error or wrongdoing.
   • Stubborn resistance to guidance or discipline: A disposition to be obstinate, unruly, or difficult to control, often without good reason.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • His refusal to accept help, even when he desperately needed it, was an act of sheer perversity.
  • The child's perversity made him do the exact opposite of what he was told.
  • There is a certain perversity in enjoying the misfortune of others.

Advanced Usage

• "Sheer/utter perversity": Used to emphasize a completely unreasonable and contrary attitude.
  • He voted against the proposal out of sheer perversity, not because he disagreed with its content.
• "Through perversity": Indicates that an action is motivated by a contrary nature.
  • Through perversity, she often chooses the most difficult path available.

Variants and Related Words

• Perverse (adj): Willfully determined to go against what is expected, reasonable, or required.
  • He took a perverse delight in annoying his colleagues.
• Perverseness (n): A less common synonym for perversity, meaning the same.
  • Her perverseness knew no bounds.

Synonyms

• Contrariness: A tendency to oppose or resist.
• Obstinacy: Stubbornness, especially in refusing to change one's opinion or course of action.
• Waywardness: Unpredictable and stubborn behavior, often ignoring rules or advice.

Related Phrases

• Cussedness (informal): Stubborn meanness or perversity.
  • He did it out of pure cussedness.
• Bloody-mindedness (chiefly British, informal): Deliberate uncooperative and obstructive behavior.
  • The negotiations stalled due to the bloody-mindedness of one delegate.

Noun

1. deliberately deviating from what is good
   • there will always be a few people who, through macho perversity, gain satisfaction from bullying and terrorism
2. deliberate and stubborn unruliness and resistance to guidance or discipline