distort

[dih-stawrt]

verb (used with object)

1. to twist awry or out of shape; make crooked or deformed.

   Arthritis had distorted his fingers.

2. to give a false, perverted, or disproportionate meaning to; misrepresent.

   to distort the facts.

   Synonyms: misstate, falsify, twist, misconstrue, pervert

3. 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.

distort

/ dɪˈstɔːt /

verb

1. (often passive) to twist or pull out of shape; make bent or misshapen; contort; deform

2. to alter or misrepresent (facts, motives, etc)

3. electronics to reproduce or amplify (a signal) inaccurately, changing the shape of the waveform

Other Word Forms

• distorter noun
• distortive adjective
• nondistorting adjective
• nondistortingly adverb
• nondistortive adjective
• overdistort verb (used with object)
• undistorting adjective
• distortedly adverb
• distorted adjective
• distortedness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of distort¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of distort¹

C16: from Latin distortus misshapen, from distorquēre to turn different ways, from _dis- ¹ + torquēre to twist

Synonym Study

See misrepresent.

Example Sentences

A UN commission of inquiry said last month that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

From BBC

His surrealist reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s Victorian children’s novel, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” distorts the nonsense and whimsy: melting clocks and anxious White Rabbits, sinister playing cards and caterpillars on mushrooms.

From Los Angeles Times

Israel has rejected the claim as “distorted and false,” and contends the Hamas-led Oct.

From Los Angeles Times

Khan told the Guardian that Jenrick had "misrepresented a storied and diverse community, awkwardly distorting the product of an all-out bin strike to fit his culture-warrior narrative filled with far-right cliches".

From BBC

While animal sacrifice is a real part of some ceremonies, the media’s obsession with this particular practice has created a distorted picture that reduces an entire spiritual system to a single, sensationalized act.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• alter 
• belie 
• deceive 
• disfigure 
• mangle 
• misconstrue 
• misinterpret 
• misrepresent 
• pervert 
• twist 
• warp