distort

«distort» in Mova's school dictionary: To change the shape of something so it looks twisted or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (distort, distorts, distorted, distorting); noun distortion; adjective distorted

meaning for a pupil

1) To change the shape of something so it looks twisted or wrong, as in a fun-house mirror that distorts your face. tree →

2) To change facts or words so they give a false idea, as in «distort the truth». tree →

3) To change a sound so it is unclear or crackly. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, lenses and water can distort light so things look bent, like a straw in a glass. In media and news lessons, «distorting facts» is a warning about propaganda and fake news. In music, guitars use «distortion» on purpose. In maths, map projections distort the size of countries near the poles.

examples

• The curved mirror distorted my face. tree →
• The newspaper distorted what the mayor said. tree →
• Water distorts the look of a pencil in a glass. tree →
• The speaker was too loud and distorted the music. tree →
• Maps distort the size of Greenland. tree →
• Don't distort the facts to win an argument. tree →
• As she looked across the sea, all there grew darker; a heavy mist came rolling onwards, and clung to bush and tree, distorting them into fantastic shapes. tree →

note

Regular verb. Noun «distortion». Related idea: «exaggerate» makes something bigger; «distort» bends it into a wrong shape.

In the corpora

• Let the proud be put to shame, for they have distorted my cause with falsehood; but I will meditate in Thy precepts.
• A man shall be commended according to his intelligence; but he that is of a distorted understanding shall be despised.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «distort» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.