different between travesty vs distortion

English

Etymology

From French travesti (“disguised, burlesqued”), past participle of travestir (“to disguise”), borrowed from Italian travestire (“to dress up, disguise”), from tra- (“across”) +? vestire (“to dress”), from Latin vesti? (“to clothe, dress”), from Proto-Italic *westis (“clothing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis (“dressing”) from verbal root *wes- (“to dress, clothe”); cognate to English wear. Doublet of transvest.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tr?v??s-t?, tr?v??s-t?, IPA^(key): /?t?æv.?s.ti/, /?t?æv.?s.ti/
• Hyphenation: trav?es?ty

Noun

travesty (plural travesties)

1. An absurd or grotesque misrepresentation.
   • 1845, Thomas De Quincey, William Godwin

     The second edition is not a recast, but absolutely a travesty of the first.

2. A parody or stylistic imitation.
3. (derogatory) A grossly inferior imitation.

   A battlefield trial is a travesty of justice.

4. (colloquial, proscribed) An appalling version of something.

Synonyms

• caricature
• feign

Antonyms

• veracity

Related terms

Translations

Verb

travesty (third-person singular simple present travesties, present participle travestying, simple past and past participle travestied)

1. (transitive) To make a travesty of; to parody.

Further reading

• travesty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• travesty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• travesty at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “travesty”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin distortio, distortionis, from distortus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?s?t????n/
• Rhymes: -??(r)??n

Noun

distortion (countable and uncountable, plural distortions)

1. An act of distorting.
2. A result of distorting.
3. A misrepresentation of the truth.

   The story he told was a bit of a distortion.

4. Noise or other artifacts caused in the electronic reproduction of sound or music.

   This recording sounds awful due to the distortion.

5. An effect used in music, most commonly on guitars in rock or metal.
6. (optics) an aberration that causes magnification to change over the field of view.

Synonyms

• deformation
• disfigurement

Related terms

• distort

Translations