perverseness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Lady Susan complains of her daughter’s “girlish perverseness and folly” while, in another letter, her sister-in-law praises Frederica’s “gentle, affectionate heart.”

From Slate • May 11, 2016

I chose to leave the island vague so that readers could project their own stereotypes onto it, experience a bit of that perverseness for themselves.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 28, 2015

In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon counsels, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”

From Slate • Aug. 20, 2012

Though at first he resisted the idea of giving up sprinting, the perverseness of specializing in versatility appealed to his sense of justice and mischief.

From Time Magazine Archive

His own parents, in some mood of perverseness or resignation, had agreed to abide by a naming done to them by somebody who couldn’t have cared less.

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison