distort

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Verb

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.
   • 1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome:

     This she did with the utmost politeness, though cold by race, and through her politeness ran a sense of what the Teutons call Duty, which would once have repelled me; but I have wandered over a great part of the world and I know it now to be a distorted kind of virtue.

2. (intransitive, ergative) To become misshapen.
3. (transitive) To give a false or misleading account of

   In their articles, journalists sometimes distort the truth.

Synonyms

• (to bring something out of shape): deform

Derived terms

• distorter

Related terms

• distorted (adjective)
• distortion

Translations

to bring something out of shape

• Arabic: يشوّه (yoshawweh)
• Bulgarian: изкривявам (bg) (izkrivjavam), деформирам (bg) (deformiram)
• Catalan: deformar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 歪曲 (zh) (wāiqū)

• Danish: forvrænge
• Dutch: vervormen (nl)
• Esperanto: tordi, distordi
• Finnish: vääristää (fi), vääntää (fi)
• French: déformer (fr), distordre (fr)
• Galician: deformar (gl), distorsionar, distorcer
• German: verzerren (de)
• Greek: παραμορφώνω (el) (paramorfóno), διαστρεβλώνω (el) (diastrevlóno), διαστρέφω (el) (diastréfo)
• Hungarian: torzít (hu), eltorzít (hu)
• Irish: cuir as a chuma, athchum, cam, fiar
• Italian: deformare (it)
• Japanese: 歪める (ja) (ゆがめる, yugameru), 曲げる (ja) (まげる, mageru)
• Khmer: ធ្វើអោយខុសពីភាពដើម (thvəəʼaoykhohpiiphiəpdaəm)
• Latin: distorqueō
• Maori: kōrori, kōrorirori, whakariroi, whakarori, whakahawe, whakaparori, whakariroi
• Norwegian: forvrenge, fordreie
• Old English: tōwrīþan, atolian, unwlitigian, āwemman
• Polish: zniekształcać (pl) impf (of objects), zniekształcić (pl) pf (of objects), przesterowywać impf (of sounds), przesterować pf (of sounds)
• Portuguese: distorcer (pt), deformar (pt)
• Russian: искажа́ть (ru) impf (iskažátʹ), искази́ть (ru) pf (iskazítʹ); искривля́ть (ru) impf (iskrivljátʹ), искриви́ть (ru) pf (iskrivítʹ); изгиба́ть (ru) impf (izgibátʹ), изогну́ть (ru) pf (izognútʹ)
• Spanish: deformar (es), distorsionar (es)
• Swedish: förvränga (sv)
• Walloon: kitoide (wa)

to become misshapen

• Finnish: vääristyä (fi), vääntyä (fi)
• Galician: deformar (gl)
• Hungarian: torzul (hu), eltorzul (hu)
• Maori: pakoki
• Spanish: deformar (es)

to give false account of

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: təhrif etmək
• Bulgarian: изопачавам (bg) (izopačavam)
• Catalan: tergiversar (ca), distorsionar (ca)
• Danish: forvrænge
• Dutch: verdraaien (nl), vervalsen (nl)
• Esperanto: misprezenti
• Finnish: vääristää (fi), vääristellä (fi)
• French: déformer (fr)
• Galician: terxiversar (gl), distorsionar, distorcer, desvirtuar (gl)
• German: verzerren (de)
• Greek: διαστρεβλώνω (el) (diastrevlóno)
• Hungarian: torzít (hu), csúsztat (hu), eltorzít (hu), elferdít (hu), meghamisít (hu)
• Irish: cuir as a ríocht, cuir cor i, cuir casadh i
• Italian: distorcere (it)
• Japanese: 歪める (ja) (ゆがめる, yugameru)
• Khmer: បង្ខូចទ្រង់ទ្រាយ (bɑɑngkhouctrŭəngtriəy)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Malayalam: വളച്ചൊടിക്കുക (vaḷaccoṭikkuka)
• Maori: whakariro, aweke
• Norwegian: forvrenge
• Polish: wypaczać (pl)
• Portuguese: distorcer (pt)
• Russian: искажа́ть (ru) impf (iskažátʹ), искази́ть (ru) pf (iskazítʹ); извраща́ть (ru) impf (izvraščátʹ), изврати́ть (ru) pf (izvratítʹ)
• Spanish: tergiversar (es), distorsionar (es), desvirtuar (es)
• Swedish: förvränga (sv)
• Ukrainian: спотворювати impf (spotvorjuvaty), спотворити pf (spotvoryty), викривляти impf (vykryvljaty), викривити pf (vykryvyty)

Adjective

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.