Changed or twisted out of normal shape or form; made unclear or unfairly represented.
From Latin 'distortus,' past participle of 'distorquere' (to twist apart), combining 'dis-' (apart) and 'torquere' (to twist). Used in English since the 1500s to describe both physical warping and misrepresentation of facts.
Distorted sounds and images are actually used in psychology to study how our brains reconstruct reality—researchers found that even heavily distorted voices are recognized as familiar because our brains fill in the gaps with what we expect to hear!
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