Dictionary

perversive en · ADJ

Etymology

From Latin pervers-, the past participial stem of pervertō, + -ive.

Meanings

1. Tending to pervert.
   • The late Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery had a profound influence on many designers. Provocative, and at times perversive (he once sprayed enema fluid over unsuspecting audience members),[…] 2023 November 18, Jess Cartner-Morley, Chloe Mac Donnell, “40 outrageous photos that changed fashion, from teenage Kate Moss to Twiggy in a mini and Lady Gaga’s meat dress”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • There is a widely diffused notion that among all specimens of animal creation man alone possesses any glimmering of reason. This notion is largely fallacious. It is one of those ideas, based upon superficial knowledge, which appeal to the sophisticated modern public. Its initial emergence and its popularity are alike due to the confounding of what is hereditary with what is acquired, and to the perversive confusion between instinct and knowledge. 1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 3:

Forms