Synonyms

contort

American

[kuhn-tawrt] / kənˈtɔrt /

verb (used with object)

to twist, bend, or draw out of shape; distort.

verb (used without object)

to become twisted, distorted, or strained.

His face contorted into a grotesque sneer.

contort British

/ kənˈtɔːt /

verb

to twist or bend severely out of place or shape, esp in a strained manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

contortive adjective

Etymology

Origin of contort

1555–65; < Latin contortus twisted together, past participle of contorquēre. See con-, tort

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.

I grab my collar and try to contort my neck to see it.

From Literature

Then she laughs—a gleeful, inhuman, full-throated laugh that contorts her body into unnatural angles and positions.

From Literature

When it was retired last year, it was replaced with a newer, fully electric model developers said could contort its metal frame in even more ways.

From BBC

“I actually find him really small and contorted and tortured.”

From The Wall Street Journal

But it’s also how she presents in the world of modeling, hooked up to wires, contorting her body to emulate a snake and sprawled across a hospital bed.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023