1. distortion(n = noun.event) deformation - a change for the worse;
is a kind of damage, harm, impairment
has particulars: warp, warping
2. distortion(n = noun.shape) distorted shape - a shape resulting from distortion;
is a kind of form, shape
has particulars: contortion, crookedness, torsion, tortuosity, tortuousness, buckle, warp, gnarl, knot
Derived forms verb distort2, verb distort3, noun distortionist1
3. distortion(n = noun.phenomenon) aberration, optical aberration - an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image;
is a kind of optical phenomenon
has particulars: chromatic aberration, spherical aberration
4. distortion(n = noun.phenomenon) - a change (usually undesired) in the waveform of an acoustic or analog electrical signal; the difference between two measurements of a signal (as between the input and output signal); "heavy metal guitar players use vacuum tube amplifiers to produce extreme distortion"
is a kind of acoustic phenomenon, electrical phenomenon
has particulars: amplitude distortion, nonlinear distortion
Derived form verb distort1
5. distortion(n = noun.act) overrefinement, straining, torture, twisting - the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean;
is a kind of falsification, misrepresentation
Derived form verb distort1
6. distortion(n = noun.act) - the mistake of misrepresenting the facts;
is a kind of error, fault, mistake
Derived form verb distort1
distortion, n.
1 the act or an instance of distorting; the process of being distorted.
2 Electronics a change in the form of a signal during transmission etc. usu. with some impairment of quality.
Derivative:
distortional adj. distortionless adj.
Etymology:
L distortio (as DISTORT)
N ugliness, deformity, inelegance, acomia, disfigurement, want of symmetry, inconcinnity, distortion, squalor, forbidding countenance, vinegar aspect, hanging look, wry face, spretae injuria formae, eyesore, object, witch, hag, figure, sight, fright, monster, dog, woofer, pig, octopus, specter, scarecrow, harridan, satyr, toad, monkey, baboon, Caliban, Aesop, monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen adempt, ugly, ugly as sin, ugly as a toad, ugly as a scarecrow, ugly as a dead monkey, plain, bald (unadorned), homely, ordinary, unornamental, inartistic, unsightly, unseemly, uncomely, unlovely, unshapely, sightless, seemless, not fit to be seen, unbeauteous, unbeautiful, beautiless, semibeautiful, shapeless, misshapen, misproportioned, monstrous, gaunt, dumpy, curtailed of its fair proportions, ill-made, ill- shaped, ill-proportioned, crooked, hard featured, hard visaged, ill-favored, hard-favored, evil-favored, ill-looking, unprepossessing, unattractive, uninviting, unpleasing, graceless, inelegant, ungraceful, ungainly, uncouth, stiff, rugged, rough, gross, rude, awkward, clumsy, slouching, rickety, gawky, lumping, lumpish, lumbering, hulky, hulking, unwieldy, squalid, haggard, grim, grim faced, grim visaged, grisly, ghastly, ghost like, death like, cadaverous, grewsome, gruesome, frightful, hideous, odious, uncanny, forbidding, repellant, repulsive, repugnant, grotesque, bizarre, grody, grody to the max, horrid, horrible, shocking, foul, dingy, gaudy, disfigured, discolored.
N obliquity, inclination, slope, slant, crookedness, slopeness, leaning, bevel, tilt, bias, list, twist, swag, cant, lurch, distortion, bend, tower of Pisa, acclivity, rise, ascent, gradient, khudd, rising ground, hill, bank, declivity, downhill, dip, fall, devexity, gentle slope, rapid slope, easy ascent, easy descent, shelving beach, talus, monagne Russe, facilis descensus averni.
N distortion, detortion, contortion, twist, crookedness, grimace, deformity, malformation, malconformation, harelip, monstrosity, misproportion, want of symmetry, anamorphosis, ugliness, talipes, teratology, asymmetry, irregularity, distorted, out of shape, irregular, asymmetric, unsymmetric, awry, wry, askew, crooked, not true, not straight, on one side, crump, deformed, harelipped, misshapen, misbegotten, misproportioned, ill proportioned, ill-made, grotesque, monstrous, crooked as a ram's horn, camel backed, hump backed, hunch backed, bunch backed, crook backed, bandy, bandy legged, bow legged, bow kneed, knock kneed, splay footed, club footed, round shouldered, snub nosed, curtailed of one's fair proportions, stumpy, gaunt, bloated, scalene, simous, taliped, talipedic, all manner of ways, crooked as a Virginia fence.
N dimsightedness, dim sight, dull sight half sight, short sight, near sight, long sight, double sight, astigmatic sight, failing sight, dimsightedness, purblindness, lippitude, myopia, presbyopia, confusion of vision, astigmatism, color blindness, chromato pseudo blepsis, Daltonism, nyctalopia, strabismus, strabism, squint, blearedness, day blindness, hemeralopia, nystagmus, xanthocyanopia, xanthopsia, cast in the eye, swivel eye, goggle-eyes, obliquity of vision, winking, nictitation, blinkard, albino, dizziness, swimming, scotomy, cataract, ophthalmia, blinker, screen, deceptio visus, refraction, distortion, illusion, false light, anamorphosis, virtual image, spectrum, mirage, looming, phasma, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, vision, specter, apparition, ghost, ignis fatuus, specter of the Brocken, magic mirror, magic lantern, mirror lens, dim-sighted, myopic, presbyopic, astigmatic, moon-eyed, mope-eyed, blear-eyed, goggle-eyed, gooseberry-eyed, one-eyed, blind of one eye, monoculous, half-blind, purblind, cock-eyed, dim-eyed, mole- eyed, dichroic, blind as a bat, winking.
N falsehood, falseness, falsity, falsification, deception, untruth, guile, lying, untruth, guile, lying, misrepresentation, mendacity, perjury, false swearing, forgery, invention, fabrication, subreption, covin, perversion of truth, suppression of truth, suppressio veri, perversion, distortion, false coloring, exaggeration, prevarication, equivocation, shuffling, fencing, evasion, fraud, suggestio falsi, mystification, simulation, dissimulation, dissembling, deceit, blague, sham, pretense, pretending, malingering, lip homage, lip service, mouth honor, hollowness, mere show, mere outside, duplicity, double dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, cant, humbug, jesuitism, jesuitry, pharisaism, Machiavelism, organized hypocrisy, crocodile tears, mealy-mouthedness, quackery, charlatanism, charlatanry, gammon, bun-kum, bumcombe, flam, bam, flimflam, cajolery, flattery, Judas kiss, perfidy, il volto sciolto i pensieri stretti, unfairness, artfulness, misstatement, false, deceitful, mendacious, unveracious, fraudulent, dishonest, faithless, truthless, trothless, unfair, uncandid, hollow-hearted, evasive, uningenuous, disingenuous, hollow, sincere, Parthis mendacior, forsworn, artificial, contrived, canting, hypocritical, jesuitical, pharisaical, tartuffish, Machiavelian, double, double tongued, double faced, double handed, double minded, double hearted, double dealing, Janus faced, smooth-faced, smooth spoken, smooth tongued, plausible, mealy-mouthed, affected, collusive, collusory, artful, perfidious, spurious, untrue, falsified, covinous, falsely, a la tartufe, with a double tongue, silly, blandae mendacia lingua, falsus in uno falsus in omnibus, I give him joy that's awkward at a lie, la mentira tiene las piernas cortas, O what a goodly outside falsehood hath.
N misrepresentation, distortion, caricatura, exaggeration, daubing, bad likeness, daub, sign painting, scratch, caricature, anamorphosis, burlesque, falsification, misstatement, parody, lampoon, take-off, travesty, misrepresented.