Perverseness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being deliberately contrary to what is reasonable or acceptable, or stubbornly resistant to normal expectations or desires
2. The quality of obstinately opposing what is right, expected, or sensible through willful defiance or unreasonable behavior
3. A tendency to deliberately act against what is proper, logical, or desired in a stubborn and contrary manner

Etymology: "Perverseness" is a plain formation: the adjective "perverse" with the suffix "-ness", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. The suffix itself has deep roots, descending from Proto-Germanic forms that were used to build abstract nouns from adjectives, and it reached English through Old English "-nes" and Middle English "-nesse" long before "perverse" entered the language. The adjective "perverse" is the older and more interesting half. It came into English from Old French "pervers", which in turn traces back to Latin "perversus", meaning turned the wrong way or turned aside, from "pervertere" (to overturn). The sense of physical turning gradually gave way to moral and behavioural turning away from what is right, which is the meaning "perverseness" carries today. Because the suffix is so productive, "perverseness" is one of many English nouns built this way, and its meaning follows directly from the adjective's sense of wilfully going against what is expected.

Synonyms: wickedness, depravity, corruption

Antonyms: virtue, goodness