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dis·tor·tion (dĭ-stôrshən)
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n.
1.
a. The act or an instance of distorting.
b. The condition of being distorted.
2. A statement that twists fact; a misrepresentation.
3.
a. The alteration of the original form of a signal representing an image, a sound, a waveform, or other information.
b. A visible or audible effect of such an alteration, such as the warping of an image or noise in an audio recording.
4. Psychology The modification of unconscious impulses into forms acceptable by conscious or dreaming perception.
dis·tortion·al, dis·tortion·ar′y, dis·tortive adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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