distortion

noun

dis·tor·tion di-ˈstȯr-shən

Synonyms of distortion next

: the act of twisting or altering something out of its true, natural, or original state : the act of distorting

a distortion of the facts

: the quality or state of being distorted : a product of distorting: such as

physics : a lack of proportionality in an image resulting from defects in the optical system

an image free of distortion

: falsified reproduction of an audio or video signal (see signal entry 1 sense 4b) caused by change in the wave form of the original signal

distortional

di-ˈstȯr-shnəl

-shə-nᵊl

adjective

Example Sentences

had to total the car due to a distortion of the chassis resulting from collision

Recent Examples on the Web This is a major distortion of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. —

Politifact Staff Writer, Dallas News, 11 May 2023 The image has a fair amount of distortion and flaring around the edges, but that won’t keep you from pulling fine detail from the middle of the field. —

Dave Hurteau, Field & Stream, 10 May 2023 This isn’t usually an issue for most electrical devices—the exception being sensitive electronics like tablets, laptops, televisions, and other smart devices which can be damaged by current distortion or surges. —

Bradley Ford, Popular Mechanics, 17 Mar. 2023 The study provides an emerging picture of distortions in the total amount of water both above ground and also in aquifers deep beneath the Earth’s surface, where most of the freshwater that humans depend upon comes from. —

Mira Rojanasakul, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2023 That's when the voice distortion comes into play — but due to a history of viewers trying to cheat the system, The Masked Singer team does even more to deceive the audience. —

Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 16 Feb. 2023 This is capable of transferring data around twice as fast as the previous DisplayPort 1.4 spec, and allows lossless industry-standard Display Stream Compression (DSC) to transmit huge quantities of data without distortion. —

John Archer, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2023 Was his telescope too long, subject to visual error or distortion? —

Erin Maglaque, The New York Review of Books, 21 Sep. 2022 Since these aren't perfect optical-quality lenses, there are often some distortions and unevenness. —

John Timmer, Ars Technica, 12 May 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distortion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.