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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

distortion en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /dɪsˈtɔːʃən/ (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin distortio, distortionis, from distortus.

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) An act of distorting.
  2. (countable, uncountable) A result of distorting.
  3. (countable, uncountable) A misrepresentation of the truth.
    • Remembering is an act of re-creation and therefore subject to distortion and fictionalization: 'real' memories become tales, and tales become 'memories'. 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 204:
    • The story he told was a bit of a distortion.
    • The conscious mind refuses to admit any failure to perceive, and puts in its place a series of rationalisations which are fabrications and distortions of the real nature of things. 1999 July 9, Bernard Burgoyne, “The Mind”, in The Guardian:
    • It was not until much later, in Stalin's time, that Marxists came to use 'ideology' to denote all forms of social consciousness, including those that were supposed to present a scientific account of the world, free from mystification and distortion. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 154:
  4. (countable, uncountable) Noise or other artifacts caused in the electronic reproduction of sound or music.
    • This recording sounds awful due to the distortion.
  5. (countable, uncountable) An effect used in music, most commonly on guitars in rock or metal.
  6. (countable, uncountable) An aberration that causes magnification to change over the field of view.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
distortions Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

undistortion · barrel distortion · predistortion · ferrodistortion · microdistortion · bond distortion · distortionist · cognitive distortion · selective distortion · distortionary · nondistortion · distortionless · pincushion distortion · reality distortion field · distortional · digital pre-distortion · bias distortion · antiferrodistortion · counterdistortion

Relateds

distort

Synonyms

disfigurement · deformation

Translations (78)

ca distorsió (misrepresentation of the truth) · ru искривле́ние (act of distorting) · de Verzerrung (act of distorting) · uk викривлення (misrepresentation of the truth) · pt distorção (misrepresentation of the truth) · de Verformung (misrepresentation of the truth) · el παραμόρφωση (effect used in music) · bg изкривяване (noise) · bg изкривяване (result of distorting) · mi hohōtanga (noise) · ru искривле́ние (result of distorting) · bg изопачаване (misrepresentation of the truth) · ru дисто́рсия (noise) · sv förvrängning (act of distorting) · el παραποίηση (misrepresentation of the truth) · de Verzerrung (noise) · hu meghamisítás (misrepresentation of the truth) · bg изкривяване (act of distorting) · bg деформация (result of distorting) · el διαστροφή (misrepresentation of the truth) · pl dystorsja (optics) · da fordrejelse, forvridning, forvrængning (act of distorting) · mi whakahawenga (act of distorting) · pt distorção (act of distorting) · el διαστρέβλωση (act of distorting) · de Verzerrung (result of distorting) · de Verzerrung (misrepresentation of the truth) · fi vääristely (misrepresentation of the truth) · fr distorsion (act of distorting) · fr distorsion (result of distorting) · it distorsione (act of distorting) · de Verdrehung (act of distorting) · ru искривле́ние (noise) · fi vääristyminen (result of distorting) · de Verwindung (act of distorting) · cmn 歪曲 (misrepresentation of the truth) · sv förvrängning (misrepresentation of the truth) · eo distordo (act of distorting) · ru искаже́ние (act of distorting) · sv förvrängning (result of distorting) · ru дисто́ршн (effect used in music) · el παραμόρφωση (noise) · sv förvränging (noise) · fr distorsion (effect used in music) · el διαστρέβλωση (result of distorting) · ca distorsió (act of distorting) · de Verzerrung (effect used in music) · ru искаже́ние (result of distorting) · ru искаже́ние (misrepresentation of the truth) · fi särö (effect used in music) · da distortion (effect used in music) · pt distorção (effect used in music) · de Zerrbild (misrepresentation of the truth) · es distorsión (result of distorting) · cs zkreslení (result of distorting) · pt distorção (noise) · fi vääristely (act of distorting) · pl zniekształcenie (result of distorting) · fi vääristymä (noise) · pt distorção (result of distorting) · de Verformung (result of distorting) · cmn 形变 (result of distorting) · fi vääristymä (result of distorting) · ca distorsió (result of distorting) · el παραμόρφωση (result of distorting) · de Enstellung (result of distorting) · ro distorsiune (act of distorting) · hu eltorzítás (misrepresentation of the truth) · sv distortion (noise) · ru искаже́ние (noise) · fi vääristäminen (act of distorting) · es distorsión (act of distorting) · de Verformung (act of distorting) · cmn 扭曲 (act of distorting) · ru дисто́рсия (result of distorting) · el διαστρέβλωση (misrepresentation of the truth) · el παραμόρφωση (act of distorting) · bg измятане (act of distorting)