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pervertir

to corrupt, to pervert

verb pehr-vehr-TEER Rare

Origin: From Latin 'pervertere' (to turn the wrong way).

Usage Note

Pervertir is a formal or literary verb meaning to corrupt morally or to distort the proper meaning of something (pervertir le sens d'un texte, to distort the meaning of a text). The related noun is perversion and the adjective perverti (corrupted, perverted). The reflexive se pervertir means 'to become corrupted'.

Examples

"Il craignait que la richesse ne le pervertisse."

Natural Translation

He feared that wealth might corrupt him.

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