How To Use Contortion In A Sentence

Heck, sometime the chips they carry are so large that you have to be a contortionist to avoid knocking them over.
Kevin Drum relays without comment a letter from a conservative defending torture, an exercise in intellectual and moral contortionism that is revelatory, I think. 12/18/2007
It had a peculiar gearstick, and the driver could find reverse only after various undignified contortions.
He went through a series of amazing contortions to get Karen a work permit.
They had so much soul, and that so contortionate, that she could not even keep her attention on them long enough to discover why they were not alive. Swan Song

Their bodies had suffered contortion as a result of malnutrition.
Quidam features a variety of incredible circus acts, including the German wheel, banquine, Spanish webs, diabolos, aerial contortion in silk and, of course, a trio of crazy clowns.
I've given him positions even a contortionist couldn't survive. INSIDERS
It frees him from the awkward contortions of hand and wrist that make violin lessons and practice all too necessary.
I had to admire the contortions of the gymnasts.
It frequently happens that the contortions or displacements due to motion are seen to affect a single line belonging to a particular substance, while the other lines of _that same substance_ remain imperturbable. A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition
The one bit I didn't enjoy was the double jointed contortionist, who actually dislocated his shoulder and elbow on stage.
Some bills go through numerous legislative contortions before they are approved.
Traditional freaks challenged audiences 'notions of sexuality: the bearded lady was an early drag queen, contortionists challenged the mind to consider sexual impossibilities and the sword swallower spoke for itself, gentleman. Piper Weiss: What's So Freaky About a Pussycat Doll?
This is more properly called joint hypermobility, and some individuals with this condition find employment as contortionists.
I could not force my body into the contortions required by classical ballet.
A contrivance is some abstract contortion that is said to describe reality, except that the contrivance comes with a felt emotionality that may invite deeper revelation, or the emotionality may come off as deceptive. Ambiguity Tolerance
It's afternoon, about a quarter to one, and the sparrows abound, alighting in the numerous olive trees twisting in writhen contortion round the flanks of the pavilion.
There was a woman in showbusiness, a contortion dancer called Estelle 'Caldonia' Young - she was named after the song Caledonia Caledonia. Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
We took pictures of the ziraffe (her strange bendy giraffe with zebra stripes capable of manifold contortions).
In these oils and mixed-media works, depicting nudes, dancers, holidays and fever dreams — and which at times resemble scenes of ritual sacrifice — he thinks like an abstractionist and moves like a contortionist. Playing With Sand, Wind and Fire
Perhaps casual work is a great choice for flexible Australians who happen to be contortionists.
The Chinese State Circus presents gymnasts, contortionists, acrobats and pole-jumpers on February 23-25.
Each dancer had to perform splits in all directions, backbends, contortions, or any unique movement in the dancer's repertoire.
But … then … in an ASTONISHING display of rhetorical contortionism … you IMMEDIATELY spin around and righteously and arbitrarily CONDEMN another group of human beings – homosexuals, as you choose to put it … Think Progress » Controversial Florida Politician Unsure If Muslims Should Hold Public Office, Says He’d ‘Prefer’ If Gays Stayed Out
For two hours he had watched clowns and contortionists and acrobats and fliers and singers.
Such movements may be compared with the contortions which many vegetable tissues undergo when subjected to exosmose. Insectivorous Plants
No doubt Charcot determines very well the phases of the attack, notes the nonsensical and passional attitudes, the contortionistic movements; he discovers hysterogenic zones and can, by skilfully manipulating the ovaries, arrest or accelerate the crises, but as for foreseeing them and learning the sources and the motives and curing them, that's another thing. Là-bas
We had to go through all the usual contortions to get a ticket .
He went through a series of amazing contortions to get Karen a work permit.
What's provocative about Copeland's book is how he doesn't stick to just what's on the stage, as so many dance-critic purists do, but draws associations and contrasts with other art dynamics, such as demonstrating how Cunningham's light, flexible, transistorized movements answered the heavy clomp and primitivism of Jackson Pollock's action painting and the archetypal contortions of Martha Graham. Mind Expansion thru Sight and Sound: James Wolcott
And perhaps from yoga, or more likely from an innate lack of ligaments, he has acquired the flexibility of a contortionist.
At a stroke you will be able to work out power numbers, divide big numbers just by converting the number to a log number, performing a subtraction, and antiloging and vola, the answer in around 5 seconds, but stretch it out to 20 seconds with various facial contortions to add drama and other things and you will earn pats on the back from morons and evil stares from real mathematicians. The Root Problem
One hand, between the pickets, seemed waving at her, and almost he seemed to wink at her jocosely, though she knew it to be the contortion of deadly pain. CHAPTER IX
As he sifts through the works of scientists, naturalists, composers and poets, Rothenberg performs intellectual contortions in an attempt to assemble or establish a unified theory of why birds sing.
‘Our clients will be able to enjoy comedy, magicians, contortionists, escapologists and music,’ he said.
The Beauty Pill are a surgically precise band whose compositions perform limber arabesques without losing a step, and Clark's homespun production accentuates every contortion.
This malignant and terrible contortion, combined with the low forehead, blunt nose, and prognathous jaw, gave the dead man a singularly simious and ape-like appearance, which was increased by. his writhing, unnatural posture. A Study in Scarlet
See "Zumanity," the unbelievably sexy Cirque du Soleil show at the New York, New York casino that combines the best of burlesque and acrobatics and contortionism (tickets range from $65 to $125; zumanity. com). Travel: Loving Las Vegas
Darwin didn't need to put his theories through contortions to account for flightless birds and cave fish.
I could not force my body into the contortions required by classical ballet.
There are six feet of standing headroom and sufficient room, with the door closed, to change clothes without feeling like a contortionist.
In the way he played with our sense both of being a body and having a body, the contortionist seemed a kind of mystic.
His speciality was contortionism, which he performed on the streets. Times, Sunday Times
Ibrahim's grimace was personal, the kind of contortion an insult brings. What About the Iraqis?
Sure, the combination of Carrey's zealous contortionism and the Farrellys 'fearlessly low humor will make you laugh (see Jim wrestle a dying cow, see him locked in mortal combat with himself, see him pee all over the wall). Gross And Grosser
Contortionist Daniel Browning Smith discovered his incredible bendiness as a child when he fell from a top bunk and did the splits.
You'd need to be a contortionist to handle that manipulation of body, head and base of body.
Everything about the tower was sharp, angular, like the harsh contortions of a concentrated face lined with spite and malice.
He places a tiny wire runner with effortless case, in comparison with my desperate finger-wrestling, rope-biting contortions.
This malignant and terrible contortion, combined with the low forehead, blunt nose, and prognathous jaw gave the dead man a singularly simious and ape-like appearance, which was increased by his writhing, unnatural posture. A Study in Scarlet
Headed up by choreographer Moses Pendleton, this troupe of dancing illusionists and contortionists have been known to mesmerize.
Friedlaender felt uncertain about the term ‘Baroque,’ preferring to point out its viability as an alternative to the contortions and non-normative aspects of Mannerism.
Going by the contortions of your average rock band, music is a painful and terribly serious duty.
Furthermore, the New York Times heaps blame on Republicans for the trouble health reform is in now, not on the design of the reform that Americans are loudly and clearly objecting to — which is the height of contortionism. New York Times Editorial Urges Dems to Walk the Plank, Alone - Dan_Perrin’s blog - RedState
My lord was smiling, so the auctioneer prattled on, and the deformed creature upon the catasta wound his ill-shapen body into every kind of contortion, grinning from ear to ear, displaying the malformation of his spine, and the hideousness of his long hairy arms, whilst he uttered weird cries that were supposed to imitate those of wild animals in the forest. "Unto Caesar"
The contortionist woman was probably the most fun; lairy as hell with the best ‘orgasm face’ I've ever seen.
Like a traditional circus, there are jugglers, trapeze acts, tumblers and contortionists.
In the hot summer months, the carnival would travel into the city, full of gypsies and fire breathers, mages and contortionists.
He went through a series of amazing contortions to get Karen a work permit.
It seems like the last six episodes were one huge contortion just to get to the “and that planet was … EARTH!” ending. The babbling about the end of Battlestar Galactica…
Given the Bushes 'penchant for contortions and distortions of facts and for presenting themselves as carbon copies of the Immaculate Conception, one has to wonder what the true nature of that aid's impulse to gather such material during Poppy's presidency for a later book writing really was; one also wonders what wrangling may have taken place behind the scenes prior to the birthing of this book by Doro? Isn't it scandalous--the Bushes thirst for Power & Self Advancement? Yes. Of Course it is!
Certainly not ghastly Bartoli with her thin, quivering sound and facial contortions, and definitely not Gilfry with his tight baritone pushed beyond the bounds of vocal beauty for the sake of (near) audibility. Ain't It a Pretty Night
Mitchell also said he did not anticipate contortionists having any specific problems with their bones as they age.
Not until I had gone through the acts of a contortionist, and shown the round coin sewed in, did I succeed in getting the The Carter and the Carpenter
Opium is smoked everywhere, at all times, by men and women, in the Celestial Empire; and, once accustomed to it, the victims cannot dispense with it, except by suffering horrible bodily contortions and agonies. Around the World in 80 Days
The musclemen who balance each other upside down on their shoulders; the acrobat who spins inside a hoop; the contortionist packed into a suitcase: these are the things that draw the audience applause.
Instead, they make torrid love in Maria's apartment, a supremely erotic scene that finds rapture in the contortions of Morton's face.
Belizean, I admire your moral contortionism to keep gays from legally marrying each other at all cost. A Belated “Screw You” from the Clinton Administration
Oh this reminds me of a contortionist trying to untie himself after finding itself contorted. AT&T’s Slowing Down on U-verse
Already on standby are a contortionist, a freaky burlesque dancer and a ‘hanging skin guy.’
I thought at first that getting out of bed before my eyes are fairly open and turning myself into a circus actor by doing every kind of overhand, foot, arm and leg contortion that the mind of cruel man could invent to torture a human being with, would kill me before I had been at it a week, but when I read on page sixteen that as soon as all that horror was over I must jump right into the tub of cold water, I kicked, metaphorically speaking. The Melting of Molly
It was the closest work in the program to classical exposition, danced in front of the curtain on the apron, where bends are not really contortions and twists owe something to Yoga.
Fortunately, however, the book is much more than a tale of the shameless arrivisme and social contortions of an outsider determined to be accepted by the British upper class.
He danced back toward Bent Nose, grabbed his wrist and underwent some kind of contortion, twisting and turning as he dropped to his knees on the floor. Conan the Indomitable
Like other feats that seem both hugely difficult and absolutely pointless -- contortionism, for example, or Steven Seagal movies -- the first response to this one is "why? Happy Leader, Happy Nation
In our hour-long chat, there are no dramatic outbursts like those that infuse her stage show, no facial contortions or funny impressions or nasty vernacular.
This isn't Vegas, it's more artful -- from the solo sand painter who opens Act II, to the smooth contortionist modern breakdancer, to the shapes of the shadows on the walls of Radio City. Rita Houston: Cirque du Zarkana: Not Your Father's Rock Opera
In another work, a cabaret contortionist with marcelled hair smokes a cigarette and reads a book in an improbable state of repose.
A circus contortionist fell victim to his own unique skills when no one believed his desperate cries for help as he lay with his right foot stuck on his left shoulder.
The company is five people - a contortionist, a dancer, an acrobat, an opera singer/actress, and a dancer/actor.
It is blatantly unfair, and we should cease all the judicial semanticist contortions trying to make it appear lessso. The Volokh Conspiracy » “What Really Happened” in Ricci:
Max shrugged his shoulders, a gesture almost contortionate, but having made his protest he gave way gracefully. Death of a Ghost
Leonoa had survived by a blade-thin chance, and even so, she lay four days in a stupor, waking for an evening before lapsing into bone fever, its delirious contortions permanently thwarting her spine's straightness, lengthening one arm and legs, and throwing the plates of her skull awry, gnarling her like a knotgrass doll. Cat Rambo
From the Feast Day of Saint Catherine in 1999 to Holy Saturday in 2000, through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, andalmost Easter, it was all Elián all the time in a fiesta of conspiracy theories, theological contortionism, shameless profiteering, and spectacular bullshit. Dream State
Where possible without contortion, I have used gender-free language in translating these terms.
Related to that is my view that supply-siders engage in contortionism by choosing to "throw out" the 1981-1982 recession from Reagan's record, even though the disinflation that came from the monetary policy of that period had great lasting benefit. Reagan's Economics in Context, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Westerners need time to adjust to this toytown furniture - it calls for anatomical contortions that a non-yogi may find difficult.
Suraiya pulled her mouth and eyebrows into an expressive contortion that spelled clearly enough her views on that possibility. For the Sake of the Boy
Can even the supporters of the bill doubt, with a straight face, that the reason for the contortion is that the effects of deeming are different from the effects of passage. The Volokh Conspiracy » Is the Slaughter Solution constitutional?
It's funny how time can manipulate and stretch itself like a contortionist.
Julia Balaka presents an unusual and innovative performance as a contortionist.
The show is distinctive from other "cirque" - style entertainment in that the dancers, jugglers, acrobats and contortionists, share the stage with a live orchestra. RNews - TOP STORIES
While this was being done, and the wretch was twisting his body in every kind of contortion as he writhed under the blows, the procession by chance was following after him. Plutarch's Lives, Volume I
I thought at first that getting out of bed before my eyes are fairly open, and turning myself into a circus acrobat by doing every kind of overhand, foot, arm and leg contortion that the mind of cruel man could invent to torture a human being with, would kill me before I had been at it a week, but when I read on page sixteen that as soon as all that horror was over I must jump right into the tub of cold water, The Melting of Molly
There's a math equation somewhere to explain the strange shuffle of the WS's - take some garagey niblets, rudimentary to the point of subliminal drummering, guitar work that bends like a contortionists belly, add some of that old, hard to convey "it" ness, and there you go. Joegood Diary Entry
The horns, drums, and harmonicon now broke forth afresh into a hideous clamour, which, however, was powerless to drown the dismal shrieks of the victim; and the fetish-man, arming himself with a large broad-bladed and most murderous-looking knife, began to dance slowly, with most extraordinary contortions of visage and body, round the idol. The Congo Rovers A Story of the Slave Squadron
What is funny is all the contortions by Obama, the democrats and their useful idiots in sidestepping the issue of why the federal government has willfully not enforced its own laws. The Volokh Conspiracy » What Will Kagan Say about AZ Immigration Law
I recently saw a circus act with contortionists folding themselves in amazing ways.
Albertson exaggerates the palsied contortions of his figures, imbuing them with a curious pathos.
One hand, between the pickets, seemed waving at her, and almost he seemed to wink at her jocosely, though she knew it to be the contortion of deadly pain. CHAPTER IX
In another work, a cabaret contortionist smokes a cigarette and reads a book in an improbable state of repose.
I could not force my body into the contortions required by classical ballet.
The night before she slept a while, then screamed out loud as a massive seizure engulfed her body in horrible contortions. Times, Sunday Times
The drill is to charge downslope at the towering ramp and catapult off the top lip into a McTwist, a Rodeo Flip, or some other contortion.
The argument that it's unconstitutional for Congress to be judge, jury and executioner is a case of logical contortion to divert the subject over to that premise and away from the fact that Congress funds what it funds and doesn't fund what it doesn't fund. ACORN files lawsuit over loss of federal funding
the acrobat performed incredible contortions
One analyst says that's economic contortionism, to think that the lowly American consumer is responsible for driving world growth. CNN Transcript Feb 14, 2005
To writhe his body about in boneless contortions for her amusement — “I dance for ladies” — and break off his exhibition in a fit of giggles. Archive 2009-07-01
Figure skater Kimmie Meissner used a flexibility-improving device to help her perform a certain contortion involving lifting one foot backward over her head. Olympians use 'secret device' for improved flexibility
He ends his extraordinary contortions with equal fluidity in boogaloo moves, locking or popping - whichever. Times, Sunday Times
The Chinese State Circus arrives in Blackpool with a band of 30 of China's greatest performers including contortionists, gymnasts and dancers.
Mrs McNab could not refuse to grant a night's shelter to a tired and chilly traveller, and by to - morrow -- Margot smiled to herself, recalling the contortion of the dour Big Game A Story for Girls
The EU referendum has forced some unlikely bedfellows to perform all sorts of mental contortions. Times, Sunday Times
I could not force my body into the contortions required by classical ballet.
Not until I had gone through the acts of a contortionist, and shown the round coin sewed in, did I succeed in getting the Carter's help. THE CARTER AND THE CARPENTER
But again, it was all part of the plan, as proven by two contortionists who scaled the giant screens and performed a visually stunning tandem act as the band broke back into familiar territory.
‘We did one painting of a contortionist that basically serves as the icon for the whole thing,’ says Wasserman.
Quite how authentically Tunisian the snake charmers, contortionists and belly dancers were I don't know, but it was a good laugh and the meal was decent enough.
The musclemen who balance each other upside down on their shoulders; the acrobat who spins inside a hoop; the contortionist packed into a suitcase: these are the things that draw the audience applause.
Every groan from the fiend, every contortion of his body was cheered by the thickly packed crowd of 10,000 persons. Boing Boing
By a contortion of semantics he led the so-called Liberal Party.
Johnson giant, and, if very poor, the welcome buffoon of some gossiping journal, who would never weary of contortions, and who would brutify himself at the death, to kindle an admiring smile. The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 79, May, 1864
A village approached from different ends is two villages; the north side of a house has an entirely different character from the south; and most of the views, vistas, prospects or whatever is the right name for the phenomena which on certain motoring maps are indicated by a little spreading blue fan – most of these are entirely one-way affairs, invisible on the opposite journey or only to be seen, cheatingly, by means of a deliberate contortion of the neck. Try Anything Twice
This was not only because of his insistent, heavy bass lines but also because his facial contortions provided a much-needed bit of visual stimulus. Times, Sunday Times
By a contortion of semantics he led the so-called Liberal Party.
The only reason Burton and Woolverton made Alice 19 is to appeal to the teen market, and the script contortions to explain and re-explain this plot device are exhausting. Ray Doesn’t Fall Down The Rabbit Hole For ALICE IN WONDERLAND | Obsessed With Film
This is the only way to retain his lofty isolationism with any consistency; but it forces him to indulge in horrible intellectual contortions.
My lord was smiling, so the auctioneer prattled on, and the deformed creature upon the catasta wound his ill-shapen body into every kind of contortion, grinning from ear to ear, displaying the malformation of his spine, and the hideousness of his long hairy arms, whilst he uttered weird cries that were supposed to imitate those of wild animals in the forest. "Unto Caesar"
In addition to the band, he had a slew of video artists and contortionists, and some on-stage body piercing.

How To Use Contortion In A Sentence

Report a problem

Please indicate a type of error

Additional information (optional):