It's a gross distortion of the truth.

Tom took two profiteroles from the dessert tray and said: "Look, I can be a squirrel." He stuffed one of the pastries in each cheek to distort his face. Mary tried to ignore him for the rest of the evening.

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.

Some newspapers distorted the news.

Our atmosphere distorts telescopic images.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

The whole system is distorted.

The senator charged that I had distorted the data.

The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it but there it is.

We experience and understand the world through signals that are received by the senses and interpreted by the brain - and both stages are subject to distortion.