Adjacent Words

Contortion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONTORTION, CONTORSION, n. [L.]
1. A twisting; a writhing; a wresting; a twist; wry motion; as the contorsion of the muscles of the face.
2. In medicine, a twisting or wresting of a limb or member of the body out of its natural situation; the iliac passion; partial dislocation; distorted spine; contracted neck.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of twisting or deforming the shape of something (e.g., yourself) [syn: contortion, deformation]
2: a tortuous and twisted shape or position; "they built a tree house in the tortuosities of its boughs"; "the acrobat performed incredible contortions" [syn: tortuosity, tortuousness, torsion, contortion, crookedness]

Merriam Webster's

noun see contort

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act or process of twisting. 2 a twisted state, esp. of the face or body. Etymology: L contortio (as CONTORT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contortion Con*tor"tion, n. [L. contortio: cf. F. contorsion. See Contort, and cf. Torsion.] A twisting; a writhing; wry motion; a twist; as, the contortion of the muscles of the face. --Swift. All the contortions of the sibyl, without the inspiration. --Burke.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(contortions) Contortions are movements of your body or face into unusual shapes or positions. I had to admire the contortions of the gymnasts. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Twist, distortion, wryness, deformity.

Moby Thesaurus

anamorphism, anamorphosis, asymmetry, buckle, crookedness, detorsion, deviation, disproportion, distortion, gnarl, imbalance, irregularity, knot, lopsidedness, quirk, screw, torsion, tortuosity, turn, twist, unsymmetry, warp, wrench, wrest, wring