distorted
Americanadjective
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not truly or completely representing the facts or reality; misrepresented; false.
She has a distorted view of life.
-
twisted; deformed; misshapen.
-
mentally or morally twisted, as with an aberration or bias.
He has a distorted sense of values.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of distorted
Explanation
If you have ever looked at yourself in a funhouse mirror, you probably saw an image that was quite distorted. Okay, so maybe your hair looked kind of weird that day, but your whole body wasn’t really that misshapen. This adjective is derived from the Latin verb distortus, which means “to twist different ways.” When something is distorted this can mean that it has been changed from the original form in any way. Someone can have a distorted worldview, or facts from an event can be distorted in the retelling. If a politician is misquoted in the newspaper, then it could be said that her opinion has been misrepresented or distorted by the media.
Vocabulary lists containing distorted
Twists and Turns: Tor
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Elie Wiesel's "Hope, Despair and Memory" (1986)
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"An Awful Human Trade," Vocabulary from the news article
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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.
Here, Bamford is as honest and casually hysterical as she’s always been, discussing mental illness with the candor such a stigmatized and distorted topic deserves.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
An Israeli government minister has said the claims presented in the film were false and distorted.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Even when the resulting interpretation is distorted, maintaining an established mental model may feel less uncertain than changing it.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Surging yields in recent weeks have distorted other markets, extending the life expectancy of two other popular flavors of debt securities: mortgage bonds and Treasury futures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
However, as the days grew colder, in the mornings ice was starting to form on the pond’s surface, which later cracked and distorted the view.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
