— distorter , n. — distortive , adj.
/di stawrt"/ , v.t.
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.
[ 1580-90; distortus (ptp. of distorquere to distort), equiv. to dis- DIS- 1 + tor ( qu )- (s. of torquere to twist) + -tus ptp. suffix ]
Syn. 2. pervert, misconstrue, twist, falsify, misstate. See misrepresent .