warp

American  

[wawrp] / wɔrp /

verb (used with object)

• warps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• warped,
  past participle,  past
• warping
  present participle

1. to bend or twist out of shape, especially from a straight or flat form, as timbers or flooring.

   Synonyms:

   distort, contort, turn

   Antonyms:

   straighten

2. to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course.

   Synonyms:

   deviate, swerve

3. to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, true meaning, etc.; bias; incline.

   Prejudice warps the mind.

4. Aeronautics. to curve or bend (a wing or other airfoil) at the end or ends to promote equilibrium or to secure lateral control.

5. Nautical. to move (a vessel) into a desired place or position by hauling on a rope that has been fastened to something fixed, as a buoy or anchor.

6. Agriculture. to fertilize (land) by inundation with water that deposits alluvial matter.

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verb (used without object)

• warps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• warped,
  past participle,  past
• warping
  present participle

1. to become bent or twisted out of shape, especially out of a straight or flat form.

   The wood has warped in drying.

   Antonyms:

   straighten

2. to be or become biased; hold or change an opinion due to prejudice, external influence, or the like.

3. Nautical.

   1. to warp a ship or boat into position.

   2. (of a ship or boat) to move by being warped.

4. (of a stratum in the earth's crust) to bend slightly, to a degree that no fold or fault results.

noun

1. a bend, twist, or variation from a straight or flat form in something, as in wood that has dried unevenly.

2. a mental twist, bias, or quirk, or a biased or twisted attitude or judgment.

3. the set of yarns placed lengthwise in the loom, crossed by and interlaced with the weft, and forming the lengthwise threads in a woven fabric.

4. time warp.

5. a situation, environment, etc., that seems characteristic of another era, especially in being out of touch with contemporary life or attitudes, etc.

6. Also called spring line, spring. Nautical. a rope for warping or hauling a ship or boat along or into position.

7. alluvial matter deposited by water, especially water let in to inundate low land so as to enrich it.

warp British  

/ wɔːp /

verb

1. to twist or cause to twist out of shape, as from heat, damp, etc

2. to turn or cause to turn from a true, correct, or proper course

3. to pervert or be perverted

4. (tr) to prepare (yarn) as a warp

5. nautical to move (a vessel) by hauling on a rope fixed to a stationary object ashore or (of a vessel) to be moved thus

6. (tr) (formerly) to curve or twist (an aircraft wing) in order to assist control in flight

7. (tr) to flood (land) with water from which alluvial matter is deposited

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noun

1. the state or condition of being twisted out of shape

2. a twist, distortion, or bias

3. a mental or moral deviation

4. the yarns arranged lengthways on a loom, forming the threads through which the weft yarns are woven

5. the heavy threads used to reinforce the rubber in the casing of a pneumatic tyre

6. nautical a rope used for warping a vessel

7. alluvial sediment deposited by water

warp Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing warp

• time warp

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• warpage
  noun
• warper
  noun
• unwarping
  adjective
• warped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• warping
  present
• warped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• warp
  simple
• warps
  simple
• have warped
  perfect
• has warped
  perfect
• am warping
  progressive
• are warping
  progressive
• is warping
  progressive
• have been warping
  perfect progressive
• has been warping
  perfect progressive

Past

• warped
  simple
• had warped
  perfect
• was warping
  progressive
• were warping
  progressive
• had been warping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will warp
  simple
• will have warped
  perfect
• will be warping
  progressive
• will have been warping
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of warp

First recorded before 900; (verb) Middle English werpen, Old English weorpan to throw; cognate with German werfen, Old Norse verpa, Gothic wairpan; (noun) Middle English warpe, Old English wearp; cognate with German Warf, Old Norse varp

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Explanation

To warp is to bend, twist, or otherwise become misshapen. Wooden furniture left outside in the rain will often warp from the moisture. Getting wet makes some things warp, while plastic has a tendency to warp in the hot sun. Sometimes people use the word colloquially to mean "have a bad or distorting influence on," as when a politician insists that video games warp kids' minds. In weaving, the warp is all of the threads running one direction — the ones that are woven over and under the warp are called the weft.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

warp warps warped warping

Epstein referred to AI as the “ultimate mirror,” which can warp into a high-tech narcissism.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Staying at the Arthur Blair is meant to feel like entering a time warp.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

But the hearing wasn’t the only recent time warp.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026

Although the most important number is that 10% total match, the warp speed matching rates are attractive, said Chris West, a managing director at human-resources consulting firm WTW.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

“Guess the time warp only wanted Angela, not you,” Chip said mockingly, but there was an edge of fear in his voice.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Tjjze warps the equivalent of the face into the equivalent of a frown as more data are revealed.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

He does not seem to think about the jobs it will destroy, the way it is poisoning creativity or education, the way it warps our shared sense of reality.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

All of these pieces have dramatic warps, waves, marbling and imperfections that make them unique and add to their beauty and history.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026

This warps market incentives, discourages fair competition, and introduces long-term risk to private capital.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026

Most of Trout’s novels, after all, dealt with time warps and extrasensory perception and other unexpected things.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

This is DeFalco’s debut feature after making several skits about weirdos with warped goals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

Nathan Fielder, on such comic-reality shows as HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” has demonstrated that warped goggles can make a fuzzy truth come more clearly into focus.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Opening the debate, Swinney said the so-called "manosphere" and extreme pornography had "warped views and attitudes in disturbing and profoundly harmful ways".

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

This effectively "warped time" for brain development, which was "super cool", she added.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Age and the settling of the house have warped the door completely, so that the top half of the door bulges away from the jamb.

From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

A three-part podcast series about how the rise of AI-generated content is warping our sense of what is real, and the dangers that presents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

Over a microphone, designer Callie Kinnan describes her decision to resew the entire garment in a new material: “The stretch mesh didn’t work. It kept warping when I sewed.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

It took Jadoon and his team months of welding and warping to fashion his Optimus Prime, with over 90 percent of its parts sourced from discarded vehicle pieces.

From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026

"In addition, when the pulses travel near a very massive object, they may be deflected and experience time delays due to the warping of space-time, as predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity."

From Science Daily ● Feb. 17, 2026

Amazingly, the hippie, whose name was Leo, was quite angry that I didn’t spend more time carving mandolin struts or warping boards or whatever it was I was supposed to be doing up there.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

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