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View synonyms for time warp

time warp

noun

  1. a hypothetical eccentricity in the progress of time that would allow movement back and forth between eras or that would permit the passage of time to be suspended.


time warp

noun

  1. any distortion of space-time
  2. a hypothetical distortion of time in which people and events from one age can be imagined to exist in another age
  3. informal.
    an illusion in which time appears to stand still

    he is living in a time warp

“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of time warp1

First recorded in 1950–55
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Idioms and Phrases

A stoppage in the passage of time; also, a distortion of time whereby an event or person could hypothetically move from one era to another. For example, Nothing in their lives has changed since the sixties; they're in a time warp , or Having a seventy-year-old actress portray a teenager—that was some time warp! This term originated in science fiction, where it signifies “a supernatural movement from one era to another,” and came to be used more loosely. [c. 1950]
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Compare Meanings

How does time warp compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

Walking into the headquarters of Company in midtown Manhattan felt like being in a time warp, in which a deadly airborne virus hadn’t yet changed life as we know it.

From Quartz

WHERE TO EAT: For lunch, enter the time warp that is Crown Candy Kitchen (don't pass on the sundaes).

No throwback eyeglasses or filters on my photos to give the impression of a time warp.

As rumors swirl about William and Kate, Andrew Morton says the whole thing feels like a time warp.

Mryna felt a twist of vertigo as the shuttle shifted from conventional speed into a time warp.

Time warp: The hole in time the time machine goes through to reach another time.

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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.

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