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
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
Explanation
Distort means to twist out of shape. When you look at a tree through a twisting kaleidoscope, you distort its image, making its branches and leaves look wavy and misshapen. Distort is a verb that means to change the shape of something. You can distort pretzel dough by twisting it into the shape of an "S" instead of a normal pretzel shape. You can also distort, or change, the meaning of something. When one distorts the truth, it might not be an out-and-out lie; it could just be an exaggeration — like telling your pals you caught a six-foot tuna when you actually landed a six-inch minnow.
Vocabulary lists containing distort
Twists and Turns: Tor
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Metamorphosis
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Number the Stars
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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.
There's No Future in Us is a mad Ariel Pink hurtle wherein Leonard's voice is treated not so much to Auto-Tune as Manual Distort.
From The Guardian • May 28, 2013
Distort it as the performers might, and vain, inadequate, as might be the words they declaimed, an idea lay behind it all.
From Brother Copas by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
Distort my limbs too, and change my voice.
From Astounding Stories, May, 1931 by Various
Distort them by inapposite metaphors, view them in perplexing attitudes, and you may make them more abstruse than the hardest proposition of the "Principia".
From Practical Essays by Bain, Alexander
Distort, dis-tort′, v.t. to turn a different way: to force out of the natural or regular shape or direction: to turn aside from the true meaning: to pervert: to misrepresent.—p.adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
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.
