The act of twisting, wringing, or distorting; a twisting outward or awry.
From Latin exortio, from exorquere 'to twist out,' combining ex- 'out' + torquere 'to twist.' The root torquere also gives us 'torture' and 'torque.'
Latin speakers used 'exortion' to describe the violent twisting of facts or meanings—much like modern 'distortion'—which is why the word eventually came to mean any kind of twisting, literal or figurative.
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