contortion
noun
contortion is a noun meaning “The act or result of contorting; the state of being contorted: the twisting of something, especially oneself” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-O-N-T-O-R-T-I-O-N and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 10 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of contortion is contortions.
What does contortion mean?
noun
- 1
The act or result of contorting; the state of being contorted: the twisting of something, especially oneself.
- 2
A performance art involving the dramatic bending and flexing of the body, showcasing extreme physical flexibility.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce contortion?
Contortion has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of contortion
- contortions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is contortion?
Contortion appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 93,703rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Contortion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | contorção , contorcionismo |
| Spanish | contorsión |
| French | contorsion |
| German | Kontorsion |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does contortion come from?
Derived from Middle French contortion, from Latin contortiō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).