warped

American  

[wawrpt] / wɔrpt /

adjective

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

1. the simple past tense and past participle of warp.

Other Word Forms

• unwarped adjective

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

“All My Sons,” Miller’s breakthrough play about capitalism’s warped ethics in the guise of a domestic drama, just finished a successful run at Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

Those sources can be wrong, and facts can be lost or warped in the game of telephone.

From Slate • Mar. 28, 2026

The fire truck is on its side, surrounded by debris, wreckage and warped metal.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

The spatula that warped when it got left in the oven?

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2026

Sidana peered through a newly created space between the warped metal and the doorframe.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Related Words

• broken
• cracked
• damaged
• defective
• deficient
• erroneous
• false
• flawed
• imprecise
• inaccurate
• inadequate
• incomplete
• insufficient
• invalid
• leaky
• malfunctioning
• unreliable