ˌæb.əˈɹeɪ.ʃn̩ ˌdɛfəˈmeɪʃən dɪsˈtɔːʃən ˈtɔɹt͡ʃɚ ˈtɔːt͡ʃə(ɹ) ˈtwɪstɪŋ the mistake of misrepresenting the facts the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean a change for the worse an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image 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) heavy metal guitar players use vacuum tube amplifiers to produce extreme distortion a shape resulting from distortion