as in distorted
badly or imperfectly formed
the returning camper proudly presented his mother with a misshapen clay bowl that he had made in crafts class
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Recent Examples of misshapen
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
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
Lately, Parker has also embraced the wabi-sabi ideal—that there is glory in irregularity, in something being vaguely misshapen.
—Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
No franchise in Disney’s deep corporate Rolodex is more odd and misshapen than Tron.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for misshapen
Gemma Johnstone, The Spruce, 18 Jan. 2026
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
Lately, Parker has also embraced the wabi-sabi ideal—that there is glory in irregularity, in something being vaguely misshapen.
—Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
No franchise in Disney’s deep corporate Rolodex is more odd and misshapen than Tron.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for misshapen
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misshapen
Adjective
-
The team is running detailed simulations to understand how the system performs when signals are weak or distorted.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Feb. 2026
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Scholars of immigration, media and criminal law say such a media campaign is unprecedented and paints a distorted picture of immigrants and crime.—
Huo Jingnan,
NPR,
27 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Like a monstrous earthworm or a section of large intestine, the pink end of the tube seems to undulate in waves of peristaltic movement, pushing its invisible contents from end to end.—
Gordon Hughes,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
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Only Byrne’s flashes of humor and desperately flailing humanity keep her on this side of monstrous.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 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
Cite this Entry
“Misshapen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misshapen. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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