warp

9 definitions • 13 examples

If wood warps, or if water or heat warps it, it becomes damaged by bending or twisting:

After being left in the damp garage, the wooden frame had warped.

The heat had warped the boards.

to make a person or their behaviour strange, in an unpleasant or harmful way:

Prison warps people. Had it warped Kelley enough that he would kill a stranger?

in science fiction (= books, films, or cartoons about an imagined future, especially about space travel or other planets) to move at a speed that is much faster than is usually possible, using special technology or special mental powers :

They tapped into their latent powers in order to warp and teleport.

The spacecraft moved away, warping back the way it had come.

in video games, to move immediately to a different section of the game that you are playing:

When you are tired of running around, you can warp to whatever section you like through a standard menu.

I warped to the "Game over" screen.

the threads that go along the length of a piece of cloth or a loom (= a special frame for making cloth)

A drive enabling space warp (travel faster than the speed of light) is a fictional spacecraft propulsion system in many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek.

Might warp actually be possible one day?

in video games, a feature that allows you to move immediately to a different section of the game that you are playing :

A warp in video game design allows a player character instant travel between two locations or levels.

Warps are a way of keeping players entertained.

(of a surface or hard material) to bend or twist so that the surface is no longer flat or straight:

[ T ] Water poured in, ruining carpets, warping walls, destroying wiring.

to cause something or someone to no longer do what is usual or right:

The novel is an appraisal of how totalitarianism can warp a society.