as in distorted
badly or imperfectly formed
a clay sculpture of an eagle that was so malformed that it looked more like a feathered football
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Recent Examples of malformed
Seven goats became pregnant; six had miscarriages, but one kid was born—with a malformed lung.
—
D. T. Max, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
Tonally, the story ends up halfway between malformed melodrama about inequity and a mystery steeped in respectability politics, wherein the point is how easily political allegiances (or assumptions about cops who shoot unarmed Black men) can blind one to greater complexities.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2025
Facing uncertainty Michael Lozano and William Wilcox are unlikely to get a definitive answer about what caused their malformed blood vessels, but they are encouraged that scientists are at least studying how blasts can alter veins and arteries.
—Jon Hamilton, NPR, 14 Jan. 2025
The tall clay-like skin creature looks like a candle melting in human form, without eyes, and with malformed hands that resemble a fetus’ in a sonogram.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 14 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for malformed
D. T. Max, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
Tonally, the story ends up halfway between malformed melodrama about inequity and a mystery steeped in respectability politics, wherein the point is how easily political allegiances (or assumptions about cops who shoot unarmed Black men) can blind one to greater complexities.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2025
Facing uncertainty Michael Lozano and William Wilcox are unlikely to get a definitive answer about what caused their malformed blood vessels, but they are encouraged that scientists are at least studying how blasts can alter veins and arteries.
—Jon Hamilton, NPR, 14 Jan. 2025
The tall clay-like skin creature looks like a candle melting in human form, without eyes, and with malformed hands that resemble a fetus’ in a sonogram.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 14 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for malformed
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malformed
Adjective
-
For someone like Crystal, whose childhood would have been violently destroyed by the Rage outbreak, the remnants of human culture become distorted scripture.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
21 Jan. 2026
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Communications with spacecraft are typically suspended during these events to avoid sending partial or distorted commands that could trigger unintended, potentially dangerous behavior.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
16 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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There are still so few stories about butch women, transmasculine, genderqueer, or nonbinary bodies—the kind of bodies that have been called monstrous all our lives.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
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Stranger Things should have either kept the Mind Flayer as the chief antagonist or revealed some even greater, more monstrous power behind it and the other eldritch horrors of the Upside Down.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Central Park, for instance, has been reduced to a small, deformed square.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
4 Jan. 2026
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As a result, his vocals have a kind of stately yet starry-eyed quality, giving structure to these deformed, cosmic beats from the internet abyss.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Focus on removing crossing, touching, weak, or misshapen branches that grow upwards or downwards into other layers, and remove twiggy, spindly growth down the trunk.—
Gemma Johnstone,
The Spruce,
18 Jan. 2026
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When not in use, keep your wool sweaters folded, and avoid hanging them, which can cause misshapen impressions or stretch out the shoulders.—
Kevin Gray,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Malformed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malformed. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
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