English → Latin
“distort” in Latin
dētorqueōto turn or bend aside, off or away, deflect; to twist out of shape, distort; to distort, misrepresentdistorqueōto turn different ways, twist, distort, warp; to torment, torturedēprāvōto pervert, distort or disfigure; to seduce, corrupt or depraveinterpretorto explain, expound; to interpret, translate; to understand, concludeoculuseye; sight, vision; luminary of the sun and starslabrumlip; edge, margin, brim, lipāvertōto turn away, turn off, avert; to avoid, divert, deviate; to remove; to steal, embezzle, appropriate to oneself
The English word distort itself goes back to Latin torqueō, through distortum.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
distort
detorquere (PROP., and IMPROP.): distorquere (PROP.; twist away from each other; to separate by twisting; e.g., oculos, the eyes; labra, the lips rare): depravare (figuratively, to give anything a wrong direction, and thus deform it, aliquid narrando): perverse interpretari (figuratively, to misinterpret). To distort the limbs, partes corporis detorquere; membra distorquere: to distort an expression, verbum in pejus detorquere: to distort everything maliciously, omnia calumniando detorquere. Sometimes avertere, avocare, amovere, deducere, abducere, or detrahere.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for distort?
- The usual Latin words for “distort” are dētorqueō, distorqueō, dēprāvō; also interpretor, oculus, labrum. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.