Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Distortion has 7 different meanings across 1 category:
a change for the worse
"The distortion of the original message made it difficult to understand his true intentions."
a shape resulting from distortion
"The heavy wind caused a dangerous distortion in the tall pine tree's branches."
an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image
"The photographer adjusted the telephoto lens to correct the distortion caused by the failing glass, finally capturing a sharp portrait."
a change (usually undesired) in the waveform of an acoustic or analog electrical signal; the difference between two measurements of a signal (as between the input and output signal)
"heavy metal guitar players use vacuum tube amplifiers to produce extreme distortion"
the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
"The journalist's distortion of the interview made the politician appear guilty of a crime he never committed."
the mistake of misrepresenting the facts
"The journalist's distortion of the interviewee's words led to a scandal over the false report."
An act of distorting.
"The distortion of his voice made it difficult to understand what he was saying."
The word entered English via French as a borrowing from the Latin distortio, meaning a twisting or turning aside. It originally described the physical act of wrenching something out of its natural shape before coming to mean any kind of warped representation.