distort

Borrowed from Latin distortum, past participle of distorqueō (“to twist, torture, distort”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈstɔɹt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈstɔːt/

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

distort (third-person singular simple present distorts, present participle distorting, simple past and past participle distorted)

1. (transitive) To bring something out of shape, to misshape.
2. (intransitive, ergative) To become misshapen.
3. (transitive) To give a false or misleading account of

   In their articles, journalists sometimes distort the truth.

• (to bring something out of shape): deform

• distorter

• distorted (adjective)
• distortion

distort (comparative more distort, superlative most distort)

1. (obsolete) Distorted; misshapen.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 36:

     Her face was ugly and her mouth distort.