as in deformations
the twisting of something out of its natural or normal shape or condition
the comedian is renowned for his seemingly endless variety of facial contortions
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Recent Examples of contortions
Perhaps Gartside chose music as his medium for working out his relentless questions because of its power to sidestep the analytical mind’s reflexive contortions and speak directly to the heart.
—
Andy Cush, Pitchfork, 15 Feb. 2026
Recently, Boston Dynamics explained Atlas’s uncanny ground-recovery move, revealing why the humanoid rises with contortions rather than standing upright.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 9 Feb. 2026
The oil made her body slippery, allowing rescuers to pull her out of the passageway by working in reverse and undoing all the contortions that trapped her.
—Mark Gray, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
The incidents highlight the contortions of the Taliban four years after seizing power of Afghanistan.
—NPR, 14 Oct. 2025
DiCaprio actually is quite funny early on in the film, but his performance loses steam in the back half, as his broad gestures and facial contortions can’t quite match the grim subtlety of Scorsese’s direction of the later scenes.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2025
Andy Cush, Pitchfork, 15 Feb. 2026
Recently, Boston Dynamics explained Atlas’s uncanny ground-recovery move, revealing why the humanoid rises with contortions rather than standing upright.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 9 Feb. 2026
The oil made her body slippery, allowing rescuers to pull her out of the passageway by working in reverse and undoing all the contortions that trapped her.
—Mark Gray, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
The incidents highlight the contortions of the Taliban four years after seizing power of Afghanistan.
—NPR, 14 Oct. 2025
DiCaprio actually is quite funny early on in the film, but his performance loses steam in the back half, as his broad gestures and facial contortions can’t quite match the grim subtlety of Scorsese’s direction of the later scenes.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contortions
Noun
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The engineers then continuously tracked the slabs’ deformations.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Feb. 2026
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Most of the shifts and deformations gradually returned to normal by six months after return to Earth.—
Rachael Seidler,
The Conversation,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The distortions of segregation in the South in the forties left their mark, to be sure, but behind his tropism for the limelight, underneath all the braggadocio that is mistaken for arrogance, lies Jesse Louis Jackson's greatest longing in life—the lust for legitimacy.—
Gail Sheehy,
Vanity Fair,
20 Feb. 2026
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The presence of other participants acts a key moderating factor in tempering ego and perceptual distortions that often occur with psychedelic use.—
Erica Rex,
STAT,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Ancient mosaics have been restored into laughable deformities of their previous selves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
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The genetic disorder is a connective tissue disease that leads to fragile bones and related complications like short stature, bone deformities, and fractures, per Mayo Clinic.—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Contortions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contortions. Accessed 27 Feb. 2026.
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