distort
Americanverb (used with object)
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to twist awry or out of shape; make crooked or deformed.
Arthritis had distorted his fingers.
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to give a false, perverted, or disproportionate meaning to; misrepresent.
to distort the facts.
- Synonyms:
- misstate , falsify , twist , misconstrue , pervert
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Electronics. to reproduce or amplify (a signal) inaccurately by changing the frequencies or unequally changing the delay or amplitude of the components of the output wave.
verb
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(often passive) to twist or pull out of shape; make bent or misshapen; contort; deform
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to alter or misrepresent (facts, motives, etc)
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electronics to reproduce or amplify (a signal) inaccurately, changing the shape of the waveform
Related Words
See misrepresent.
Other Word Forms
- distorted adjective
- distortedly adverb
- distortedness noun
- distorter noun
- distortive adjective
- nondistorting adjective
- nondistortingly adverb
- nondistortive adjective
- overdistort verb (used with object)
- undistorting adjective
Etymology
Origin of distort
1580–90; from Latin distortus (past participle of distorquēre “to distort”), equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + tor(qu)- (stem of torquēre “to twist”) + -tus past participle suffix
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.
This distorts the epidemiological picture and makes disease control even more difficult.
From BBC
The app also added an extra finger onto the influencers hand, and distorted her face.
From BBC
Late in the album, the typically hushed “I Love You” tries something new, closing out with dramatic and bizarrely distorted percussion.
That revenue figure was distorted somewhat by the disposal of its Sun Art and Intime operations and would have been more like 15% if adjusted for them.
From MarketWatch
They began the set — contrary to the noisy atmosphere of the year prior characterized by distorted alternative rock — with a piano solo.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
