Meanings
verbdistort (third-person singular simple present distorts, present participle distorting, simple past and past participle distorted)
present singular third person distorts · participle present distorting · participle past distorted · past distorted
- transitiveTo bring something out of shape, to misshape.
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.
1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path to RomeSynonyms: deform
- ergativeintransitiveTo become misshapen.
- transitiveTo give a false or misleading account of; pervert.
In their articles, journalists sometimes distort the truth.
Synonyms: skew
adjectivedistort (comparative more distort, superlative most distort)
comparative more distort · superlative most distort
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo bring something out of shape, to misshape.
Similar
verbTo give a false or misleading account of; pervert.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
verbmake false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindistortum
- Englishdistort
Borrowed from Latin distortum, past participle of distorqueō (“to twist, torture, distort”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic شَوَّهَ
- شَوَّهَ (šawwaha)to bring something out of shape
Bulgarian изкривявам, деформирам
- изкривявам (izkrivjavam)to bring something out of shape
- деформирам (deformiram)to bring something out of shape
- изопачавам (izopačavam)to give false account of
Catalan deformar, tergiversar
- deformarto bring something out of shape
- tergiversarto give false account of
- distorsionarto give false account of
Chinese Mandarin 歪曲
- 歪曲 (wāiqū)to bring something out of shape
Danish forvrænge, forvrænge
- forvrængeto bring something out of shape
- forvrængeto give false account of
Dutch vervormen, verdraaien
- vervormento bring something out of shape
- verdraaiento give false account of
- vervalsento give false account of
Esperanto tordi, distordi
- tordito bring something out of shape
- distordito bring something out of shape
- misprezentito give false account of
Finnish vääristää, vääntää
- vääristääto bring something out of shape
- vääntääto bring something out of shape
- vääristyäto become misshapen
- vääntyäto become misshapen
- vääristääto give false account of
- vääristelläto give false account of
French déformer, distordre
- déformerto bring something out of shape
- distordreto bring something out of shape
- déformerto give false account of
German verzerren, verzerren
- verzerrento bring something out of shape
- verzerrento give false account of
Greek παραμορφώνω, διαστρεβλώνω
- παραμορφώνω (paramorfóno)to bring something out of shape
- διαστρεβλώνω (diastrevlóno)to bring something out of shape
- διαστρέφω (diastréfo)to bring something out of shape
- διαστρεβλώνω (diastrevlóno)to give false account of
Hungarian torzít, eltorzít
- torzítto bring something out of shape
- eltorzítto bring something out of shape
- torzulto become misshapen
- eltorzulto become misshapen
- torzítto give false account of
- csúsztatto give false account of
- eltorzítto give false account of
- elferdítto give false account of
- meghamisítto give false account of
Irish cuir as a chuma, athchum
- cuir as a chumato bring something out of shape
- athchumto bring something out of shape
- camto bring something out of shape
- fiarto bring something out of shape
- cuir as a ríochtto give false account of
- cuir cor ito give false account of
- cuir casadh ito give false account of
Italian deformare, distorcere
- deformareto bring something out of shape
- distorcereto give false account of
Japanese 歪める, 曲げる
- 歪める (yugameru)to bring something out of shape
- 曲げる (mageru)to bring something out of shape
- 歪める (yugameru)to give false account of
Latin distorqueō
- distorqueōto bring something out of shape
Māori kōrori, kōrorirori
- kōrorito bring something out of shape
- kōrorirorito bring something out of shape
- whakariroito bring something out of shape
- whakarorito bring something out of shape
- whakahaweto bring something out of shape
- whakaparorito bring something out of shape
- pakokito become misshapen
- whakariroto give false account of
- aweketo give false account of
Norwegian forvrenge, fordreie
- forvrengeto bring something out of shape
- fordreieto bring something out of shape
- forvrengeto give false account of
Polish zniekształcać, zniekształcić
- zniekształcaćto bring something out of shape
- zniekształcićto bring something out of shape
- przesterowywaćto bring something out of shape
- przesterowaćto bring something out of shape
- wypaczaćto give false account of
Portuguese distorcer, deformar
- distorcerto bring something out of shape
- deformarto bring something out of shape
- distorcerto give false account of
Russian искажа́ть, искази́ть
- искажа́ть (iskažátʹ)to bring something out of shape
- искази́ть (iskazítʹ)to bring something out of shape
- искривля́ть (iskrivljátʹ)to bring something out of shape
- искриви́ть (iskrivítʹ)to bring something out of shape
- изгиба́ть (izgibátʹ)to bring something out of shape
- изогну́ть (izognútʹ)to bring something out of shape
- искажа́ть (iskažátʹ)to give false account of
- искази́ть (iskazítʹ)to give false account of
- извраща́ть (izvraščátʹ)to give false account of
- изврати́ть (izvratítʹ)to give false account of
Spanish deformar, distorsionar
- deformarto bring something out of shape
- distorsionarto bring something out of shape
- deformarto become misshapen
- tergiversarto give false account of
- distorsionarto give false account of
- desvirtuarto give false account of
Swedish förvränga, förvränga
- förvrängato bring something out of shape
- förvrängato give false account of
- vrängato give false account of
Thai บิดเบือน, บิดเบือน
- บิดเบือน (bìt-bʉʉan)to bring something out of shape
- บิดเบือน (bìt-bʉʉan)to give false account of
Ukrainian спотворювати, спотворити
- спотворювати (spotvorjuvaty)to give false account of
- спотворити (spotvoryty)to give false account of
- викривляти (vykryvljaty)to give false account of
- викривити (vykryvyty)to give false account of
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with distort
supportreportcourtshortsortportsporttransportresortfortimportexportescorttortquartforteabortsnortwortmortortconsortthwartretort
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
distort. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/distort
MLA
“distort.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/distort. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “distort,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/distort.
Source: distort on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.