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distortive

 - 3 dictionary results

dis⋅tort

  [di-stawrt]
Use distortive in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to twist awry or out of shape; make crooked or deformed: Arthritis had distorted his fingers.
2. to give a false, perverted, or disproportionate meaning to; misrepresent: to distort the facts.
3. Electronics. to reproduce or amplify (a signal) inaccurately by changing the frequencies or unequally changing the delay or amplitude of the components of the output wave.
Origin:
1580–90; < L distortus (ptp. of distorquēre to distort), equiv. to dis- dis- 1 + tor(qu)- (s. of torquēre to twist) + -tus ptp. suffix

Related forms:
dis⋅tort⋅er, noun
dis⋅tor⋅tive, adjective

Synonyms:
2. pervert, misconstrue, twist, falsify, misstate. See misrepresent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To distortive
dis·tor·tive   (dĭ-stôr'tĭv)   
adj.  Serving to distort: harsh and distortive peaks in the recorded music; a robust fortissimo without distortive vibration.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

distort 
1586, from L. distortus, pp. of distorquere "to twist different ways, distort," from dis- "completely" + torquere "to twist" (see thwart).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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