DISTORTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does distortion mean? 

• DISTORTION (noun)
  The noun DISTORTION has 6 senses:

1. a change for the worse

2. a shape resulting from distortion

3. an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image

4. 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)

5. the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean

6. the mistake of misrepresenting the facts

  Familiarity information: DISTORTION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTORTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A change for the worse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

deformation; distortion

Hypernyms ("distortion" is a kind of...):

damage; harm; impairment (the occurrence of a change for the worse)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distortion"):

warp; warping (a moral or mental distortion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A shape resulting from distortion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

distorted shape; distortion

Hypernyms ("distortion" is a kind of...):

form; shape (the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distortion"):

contortion; crookedness; torsion; tortuosity; tortuousness (a tortuous and twisted shape or position)

buckle; warp (a shape distorted by twisting or folding)

gnarl; knot (something twisted and tight and swollen)

Derivation:

distort (form into a spiral shape)

distort (twist and press out of shape)

distortionist (a painter who introduces distortions)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

aberration; distortion; optical aberration

Hypernyms ("distortion" is a kind of...):

optical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon related to or involving light)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distortion"):

chromatic aberration (an optical aberration in which the image has colored fringes)

spherical aberration (an optical aberration resulting in a distorted image)

Sense 4

Meaning:

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)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Context example:

heavy metal guitar players use vacuum tube amplifiers to produce extreme distortion

Hypernyms ("distortion" is a kind of...):

acoustic phenomenon (a physical phenomenon associated with the production or transmission of sound)

electrical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon involving electricity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distortion"):

amplitude distortion; nonlinear distortion (distortion that occurs when the output signal does not have a linear relation to the input signal)

Derivation:

distort (make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

distortion; overrefinement; straining; torture; twisting

Hypernyms ("distortion" is a kind of...):

falsification; misrepresentation (a willful perversion of facts)

Derivation:

distort (make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The mistake of misrepresenting the facts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("distortion" is a kind of...):

error; fault; mistake (a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention)

Derivation:

distort (make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story)

 Context examples 

A disorder characterized by distortion of sensory perception, resulting in an abnormal and unpleasant sensation.

(Dysesthesia, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)

Difficulty moving; distortion or impairment of voluntary movement, as in tic, spasm, or myoclonus.

(Dyskinesia, NCI Thesaurus)

Distortion of a sense resulting in an abnormal and unpleasant sensation, usually described as burning, tingling, or numbness.

(Dysesthesia, NCI Thesaurus)

Testing an imaging device to determine the amount of distortion or signal loss (artifacts) produced in an image.

(Device Image Artifact Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

The unacceptable distortion of an image due to signal loss that may occur during a radiologic procedure such as magnetic resonance imaging.

(Device Image Artifact Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Reading difficulties can include distortions, omissions or substitutions of characters.

(Dyslexia, NCI Thesaurus)

An electronic device designed to alter the frequency of a signal, usually to adjust for distortion.

(Equalizer Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

According to the degree of nuclear atypia, number of mitotic figures, and presence of architectural distortion, it is classified as low grade (mild dysplasia) or high grade (moderate or severe dysplasia).

(Intraepithelial Neoplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

According to the degree of nuclear atypia, number of mitotic figures, and presence of architectural distortion, it is classified as grade II (moderate dysplasia) or grade III (severe dysplasia).

(High Grade Intraepithelial Neoplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

A shape distortion in the z-axis resulting from the weighting function used in the helical interpolation algorithm.

(Helical Interpolation Artifact, NCI Thesaurus)