warped
Americanadjective
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bent or twisted out of shape, especially from a flat or straight form.
A couple of warped planks made a sort of rickety footbridge from the sidewalk to the door.
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bent or turned from the natural, normal, or true direction or character.
This manipulative behavior comes from the warped relationship she had with her over-controlling mother.
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distorted from the truth, fact, true meaning or interpretation, etc.; biased; false.
Unfortunately you can always find a huge number of websites that will support any warped worldview your anxiety presents you with.
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Aeronautics. (of a wing or other airfoil) curved or bent at the end to promote equilibrium or to secure lateral control.
A warped wing also shows significant improvement in the aircraft’s lift-to-drag ratio.
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Agriculture. (of land) fertilized by flooding with water that deposits alluvial matter.
Water management systems evolved to bring nutrients to fields—as in rice paddies, but also in the water meadows and warped fields of Europe.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of warped
First recorded in 1425–75; warp ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; warp ( def. ) + -ed 1 ( def. ) for the verb sense
Explanation
Use the adjective warped to describe something that's twisted or bent. If you leave a wooden kitchen chair out in the rain, it may eventually become too warped to sit on. Something that's warped is misshapen, like a maple cutting board left to soak in the sink, or a plastic cup that melted and twisted in the hot summer sun. Colloquially, you can also use this word for anything bizarre or distorted, like your older brother's weird, warped sense of humor. The Germanic root of warped means "to turn or bend."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Nathan Fielder, on such comic-reality shows as HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” has demonstrated that warped goggles can make a fuzzy truth come more clearly into focus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Opening the debate, Swinney said the so-called "manosphere" and extreme pornography had "warped views and attitudes in disturbing and profoundly harmful ways".
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
I’m very assured that the warped mind of Katie Dippold will helm us into a giddy storm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
This effectively "warped time" for brain development, which was "super cool", she added.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
And to begin the work of restructuring American schools—barely changed in generations despite the ongoing Information Revolution—and their frequently warped structures, procedures, and value systems.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
