Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

torsion

Syllabification: (tor·sion)
Pronunciation: /ˈtôrSHən/
Definition of torsion

noun

  • the action of twisting or the state of being twisted, especially of one end of an object relative to the other.
  • Mathematics the extent to which a curve departs from being planar.
  • Zoology (in a gastropod mollusk) the spontaneous twisting of the visceral hump through 180° during larval development.

Derivatives

torsional

Pronunciation: /-SHənl/
adjective

torsionally

Pronunciation: /-SHənl-ē/
adverb

torsionless

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English (as a medical term denoting colic or in the sense 'twisting' (especially of a loop of the intestine)): via Old French from late Latin torsio(n-), variant of tortio(n-) 'twisting, torture', from Latin torquere 'to twist'

torsion in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of torsion in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

epithalamium

/ ˌepəTHəˈlāmēəm /
noun
a song or poem celebrating a marriage …