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.
In some earlier cases, the galaxy's light was also distorted by passing near a massive object, an effect known as gravitational lensing.
From Science Daily
She charges the apps left her with anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia — a pathologically distorted self-perception, most prevalent in girls, that a growing body of research has linked to social platforms.
From Los Angeles Times
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 Literature
In January, he published a paper that found that advanced AI tools can disempower users and distort their sense of reality.
Far from distorting democracy, this diversity of substantial support often enlarges the range of ideas in public debate.
From MarketWatch
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.
