warp

To make something bend or twist so that it loses its usual shape.

• Heat can warp plastic.
• The damp air warped the door.
• Will sunlight warp these boards?

Similar words: bend, distort, deform

Common phrases: warp something, warp the wood

To become bent or twisted and lose the usual shape.

• Wet wood may warp.
• The shelves warped in the heat.
• This plastic will warp if it gets too hot.

Similar words: bend, deform

Common phrases: warp in heat, begin to warp

To change someone’s thinking or behavior in a harmful or unfair way.

• Fear can warp your judgment.
• Years of bitterness warped his views.
• Does constant praise warp a child’s sense of importance?

Similar words: distort, corrupt, bias

Common phrases: warp someone’s judgment, warp someone’s mind, warp someone’s thinking

To become unfair, harmful, or mistaken in the way you think or act.

• His judgment began to warp.
• Her perspective warped after years of isolation.
• Under constant pressure, their ideas about fairness slowly warped.

Similar words: become distorted, go astray

Common phrases: begin to warp, warp under pressure

A bend or twist in something that should be straight or flat.

• There is a warp in this board.
• Heat caused a small warp in the door.
• The carpenter checked the panels for warps.

How to use it: warp in something (A warp in the frame prevented the window from closing.)

Similar words: bend, distortion

Common phrases: slight warp, warp in something, wood warp

The threads held straight along a piece of cloth while other threads are woven across them.

• The warp is made of cotton.
• She tightened the warp on the loom.
• Blue weft crossed the white warp threads.

Common phrases: warp threads, cotton warp, warp and weft