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The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

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perusal n. reading, scrutiny, check, examination, study, inspection,<br />

scanning, review: I saw nothing blasphemous in my perusal <strong>of</strong><br />

the text.<br />

peruse v. read, study, scan, scrutinize, examine, inspect, review,<br />

browse, run one's eye over: As Gregory was perusing the ancient<br />

manuscript, a sudden draught blew out the candle.<br />

pervasive adj. penetrating, pervading, omnipresent, general, inescapable,<br />

prevalent, universal, widespread, ubiquitous, permeating,<br />

permeative: A pervasive sense <strong>of</strong> doom in the castle made<br />

everyone feel uneasy.<br />

perverse adj. 1 wrong, wrong-headed, awry, contrary, wayward, incorrect,<br />

irregular, unfair, improper, contradictory: It was most<br />

perverse <strong>of</strong> you to change your mind after all the arrangements<br />

had been made. 2 cantankerous, testy, curmudgeonly, churlish,<br />

crusty, bad-tempered, petulant, captious, cross, cross-grained,<br />

peevish, waspish, snappish, bilious, splenetic, fractious,<br />

ill-tempered, quarrelsome, irascible, sullen, contentious,<br />

touchy, obstreperous, crabby, crabbed, irritable, surly, Colloq<br />

grouchy, Brit stroppy, US and Canadian cranky: With everything<br />

going wrong, Catherine feels particularly perverse today. 3<br />

stubborn, self-willed, wrong-headed, intractable, wilful,<br />

obdurate, obstinate, pigheaded, adamant, inflexible, unbending,<br />

refractory, unyielding: I refuse to give in to a perverse child<br />

just because he has a tantrum.<br />

perversion<br />

n. 1 deviation, irregularity, misdirection, corruption,<br />

subversion, distortion, twisting, falsification,<br />

misrepresentation, diversion, sidetracking: <strong>The</strong> conduct <strong>of</strong> this<br />

trial has been a perversion <strong>of</strong> the course <strong>of</strong> true justice. 2<br />

unnatural act, deviation, deviance or deviancy, abnormality,<br />

depravity, vice, aberration, debauchery, Colloq kinkiness, Brit<br />

kink: Every kind <strong>of</strong> perversion flourished in ancient Rome.<br />

pervert v. 1 deflect, divert, sidetrack, turn aside or away, subvert,<br />

misdirect, distort, twist, abuse, falsify, misapply,<br />

misconstrue, misrepresent, corrupt: By withholding evidence,<br />

you have perverted the course <strong>of</strong> justice. 2 seduce, lead<br />

astray, debauch, degrade, corrupt, demoralize, subvert: He was

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