as in deformed
to twist (something) out of a natural or normal shape or condition
the acrobat is able to contort his body so that it almost looks like a pretzel
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in distorted
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of contorted
Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2025
Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
Rogalski contorted his body and got a foot down in bounds to secure the interception at Mahtomedi’s 42 yard line.
—Andrew Cornelius, Twin Cities, 16 Oct. 2025
Some language just gets contorted in error.
—Louis J. Esterhazy, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
Even an otherwise neutral comment can be contorted into a sarcastic retort, an insult or a counterattack.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Yet part of the force of it is that Michôd has not contorted Christy Martin’s life into some false arc; what was going on beneath her triumph is portrayed with a desperate and idiosyncratic honesty.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Sep. 2025
Verb
Three-inch gashes had been ripped from both corners of her mouth nearly to the ears, forming a contorted, twisted smile.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
One oral tradition about Lake Nyos describes how people long ago attempted to cross the dry lake bed between the high, contorted rock formations of the maar’s volcanic rim.
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
Rogalski contorted his body and got a foot down in bounds to secure the interception at Mahtomedi’s 42 yard line.
—Andrew Cornelius, Twin Cities, 16 Oct. 2025
Some language just gets contorted in error.
—Louis J. Esterhazy, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
Even an otherwise neutral comment can be contorted into a sarcastic retort, an insult or a counterattack.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Yet part of the force of it is that Michôd has not contorted Christy Martin’s life into some false arc; what was going on beneath her triumph is portrayed with a desperate and idiosyncratic honesty.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contorted
Verb
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Meanwhile, the right shoe starts with a black pigskin suede base and mixes in blurred and distorted details to represent the pixelated side.—
Riley Jones,
Footwear News,
31 Oct. 2025
-
My guess is this is a small black bear, and blurring distorted the photo.—
Josh Honeycutt,
Outdoor Life,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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It is associated with hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impair daily functioning and can be disabling.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
21 Oct. 2025
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My childhood had left me with social anxiety and a disordered relationship with food.—
Bee Wilson,
Vogue,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In the past few years, the nation’s collective memory—never the strongest—has been relentlessly deformed by right-wing propaganda.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
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Both of the Yunxian skulls were deformed from millennia spent underground, but the second, known as Yunxian 2, was better preserved.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Perhaps, curled inside the turbulent virginal atmosphere, Helm dreams of being a storm, has a prophetic vision of destruction, feels a natural calling.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Yet the best goal of the night went to Rose Lavelle, whose volley from outside the box curled perfectly into the side netting to give the USWNT a 3-0 lead at the half.—
Daniel Sperry,
Kansas City Star,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Combined with the numbers injured, detained or tortured, at least one percent of the Strip’s population suffered first-hand from Israeli violence during the first occupation.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Maloyan served as Archbishop of Mardin from 1911 to 1915 and was tortured and killed after refusing to convert to Islam.—
Jenni Fink,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Contorted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contorted. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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