tors-, tort-, -tort, tortu-, torqu-
(Latin: bend, curve, turn, twist)
2. To twist, wrench, or bend severely out of shape: "Twisting her ankles showed the severe pain which contorted Brenda's face."
3. To change something so greatly that it becomes unrecognizable: "Mary's friend always seemed to contort the truth whenever she was explaining something."
2. Descriptive of something that is twisted back on itself; convoluted.
2. The act of twisting or deforming the shape of something.
3. A bewilderingly complex maneuvering or manipulation of something.
4. A tortuous and twisted shape or position of someone or something.
A circus acrobat who is wrapped up in himself or herself.
"A man or woman who leads a double life."
2. To describe, or to report, something in an inaccurate or misleading way: The reporter distorted what the mayor actually said regarding the repairs to the city hall.
3. To make something unclear or unrecognizable; for example, to change something; The photograph of the robber at the bank appeared in the newspaper in such a way that it was too distorted and so it was unclear and unrecognizable.
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2. Relating to twisting out of shape or deforming.
3. In electronics, characterized by reproduction or amplification of something inaccurately; such as, to reproduce a signal falsely.
2. The bending, twisting, stretching, or forcing of something out of its usual or natural shape.
3. A part of something that has been bent, twisted, stretched, or forced out of its usual or natural shape.
4. The altering of something; such as, a radio or television signal to the extent that it becomes unclear or unrecognizable.
5. An alteration in an image in which the original proportions are changed, resulting from a defect in a lens or an optical system.
2. Characterized by a change in the shape of an image that results from imperfections in an optical system, such as a lens.
3. In electronics, a reference to an undesired change in the waveform of a signal.
The president of the union tried to exhort his members to boycott the export of expensive products. It was believed that the politicians were trying to extort the union president for their own means.
2. To obtain something from another person by coercion or intimidation.
3. To compel, or to coerce, as with a confession or information, by any means serving to overcome the other's power of resistance; therefore, making the confession or admission legally involuntary.
4. To gain by wrongful methods; that is, to obtain in an unlawful manner, as when someone compels payments by means of threats of injury to person, property, or reputation.
5. The natural meaning of the word extort is to obtain money or other valuable things by compulsion, by actual force, or by the force of motives applied to the will, and often more overpowering and irresistible than physical force.