as in deformation
the twisting of something out of its natural or normal shape or condition
had to total the car due to a distortion of the chassis resulting from collision
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Recent Examples of distortion
Shark already offers 12 of these in analog and digital flavors, including overdrive, distortion, boost, fuzz, speaker simulation, and delay and reverb.
—
Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 25 Jan. 2026
That slight distortion turned out to matter.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 18 Jan. 2026
To bad actors, the grim reality on the ground in Minneapolis is simply fodder for low-effort memes and propagandistic distortions, curated for clicks and boosted visibility.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2026
Both the washing machine and dryer can warp your clothes, leading to distortion and shrinkage.
—Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 17 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for distortion
Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 25 Jan. 2026
That slight distortion turned out to matter.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 18 Jan. 2026
To bad actors, the grim reality on the ground in Minneapolis is simply fodder for low-effort memes and propagandistic distortions, curated for clicks and boosted visibility.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2026
Both the washing machine and dryer can warp your clothes, leading to distortion and shrinkage.
—Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 17 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for distortion
Recent Examples of Synonyms for distortion
deformation
Noun
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Right now, the deformation zone looks to be just south of our region, setting up along and just south of I-68.—
Ron Smiley,
CBS News,
21 Jan. 2026
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Rain that gets through cracks in the pavement softens the soil beneath, causing more deformation under traffic loading and leading to more cracking, according to Jonathan Stewart, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.—
Alex Wigglesworth,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Distortion.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/distortion. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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