pervert Copy link Outline 1. dēprāvo, 1 (to worsen)2. dētorqueo, si, tum, 2 (to wrest aside)3. dēflecto, xi, xum, 3 (like preced., but less freq.)4. corrumpo, 3 (to mar and spoil) • pervert: 1. dēprāvo, 1 (to worsen): to p. anything by mis-stating it, aliquid male narrando d., Ter. Ph. 4, 4, 16: (things) corrupted and p.'d by the subtlety of the lawyers, jureconsultorum corrupta ac depravata, Cic. Mur. 12, 37. 2. dētorqueo, si, tum, 2 (to wrest aside): to p. language to an obscene sense, in obscaenum intellectum sermonem d., Quint. 8, 3, 44: to p. sincere and upright minds, sincera rectaque ingenia d., Plin. Pan. 70: Liv.: v. to misinterpret. In similar sense, torqueo, but with the bad sense less marked: v. to wrest. 3. dēflecto, xi, xum, 3 (like preced., but less freq.): cf. Cic. Rep. 1, 44, quum ipsos principes aliqua pravitas de via deflexit, i. e. when they have become p.'d: tragedy p.'d to obscene laughter, in obscaenos deflexa tragoedia risus, Ov. Tr. 2, 409. 4. corrumpo, 3 (to mar and spoil): cf. supr. (1). See also to corrupt. (N.B.--Perverto = to overturn completely.)