perversity
Stubborn contrary behavior
Perversity is the quality of being contrary or obstinate, especially when it serves no purpose or works against one's own interests.
There's a willfulness to perversity—not mere stubbornness but a kind of deliberate wrongheadedness: Out of sheer perversity, she refused the offer everyone knew she wanted.
The word implies choosing the difficult or unreasonable path precisely because it's difficult or unreasonable.
Unyielding adherence to position
- willfulnessIntentional resistance to direction
- stubbornnessRefusal to yield
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
- cussednessWillful obstinacy or spite
intractability · mulishness · pigheadedness · wrongheadedness · waywardness · balkiness · refractoriness · orneriness
Moral corruption or evil
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- degeneracyMoral or physical decline
- immoralityQuality of being wicked
- turpitudeInherent wickedness or vileness
vice · sinfulness · baseness · vileness · debauchery · dissipation · licentiousness · profligacy
Tendency toward defiant resistance
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- disobedienceRefusal to follow orders
- noncomplianceFailure to follow requirements
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
contumacy · recalcitrance · opposition · intransigence · obduracy · unruliness · mutinousness · refusal
Deviation from the norm
- abnormalityDeviation from expected state
- devianceDeparture from accepted standards
- kinkinessTightly coiled quality
- fetishismFixation on specific objects
transgression · taboo · unconventionality · unorthodoxy · irregularity · peculiarity · distortion · warping
obstinacy
Unyielding adherence to position
- willfulnessIntentional resistance to direction
- stubbornnessRefusal to yield
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
cussedness · intractability · mulishness · pigheadedness · wrongheadedness · waywardness · balkiness · refractoriness · orneriness · cantankerousness
wickedness
Moral corruption or evil
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- degeneracyMoral or physical decline
- immoralityQuality of being wicked
turpitude · vice · sinfulness · baseness · vileness · debauchery · dissipation · licentiousness · profligacy · lewdness
rebelliousness
Tendency toward defiant resistance
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- disobedienceRefusal to follow orders
- noncomplianceFailure to follow requirements
resistance · contumacy · recalcitrance · opposition · intransigence · obduracy · unruliness · mutinousness · refusal · nonconformity
aberration
Deviation from the norm
- abnormalityDeviation from expected state
- devianceDeparture from accepted standards
- kinkinessTightly coiled quality
fetishism · transgression · taboo · unconventionality · unorthodoxy · irregularity · peculiarity · distortion · warping · twistedness
- deviancedeviance, aberration, abnormality, transgression, misconduct
- resistanceresistance, defiance, resistance fighters, civil resistance, resist
- stubbornnessstubbornness, obstinacy, pigheadedness, bullheadedness, mulishness
- combativenessaggression, antagonism, belligerence, bellicosity, combativeness
- rebellious traitsdefiance, rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience, willfulness
perversitycompliance
Adhering to requirements
obedience · conformity · submission · acquiescence · docility
perversityvirtue
Moral goodness or merit
righteousness · wholesomeness · decency · uprightness · rectitude
perversityreasonableness
Quality of being fair-minded
rationality · sensibleness · logic · prudence · good sense