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Glite Dictionary
to warp time

to warp time

1 9.9
Make time feel faster, slower or strange
  • phrasal verb
  • /wɔrp taɪm/
translation icon : deformar el tiempo
  • The author created a story that seemed to warp time, making the years disappear in a single chapter.

Any time that you would create some type of field that warp space-time around you, you would be by necessity warping time as well.

Examples

  • Any time that you would create some type of field that warp space-time around you, you would be by necessity warping time as well.

    Danny Jones

  • Gravity warps time.

    All Star Superman (2011)

  • Watching the movie made me feel like it could warp time, as the hours flew by unnoticed.

  • During the experiment, scientists noticed that extreme speeds seemed to warp time around the object.

Synonyms

to warp
vsto warp time
30 7.4

To change facts or stories so they are not true

alters perception of time instead of changing truth or meaning
to retime
vsto warp time
  • Specialized
6.1

Make a recording play faster or slower to change its timing

alters perceived flow of time rather than changing actual media timing

Surface Forms

warp time infinitive
warping time present participle
warps time third person singular
warped time past
warped time past participle

Morphology

warp + time

The verb 'warp' (to bend or distort) combined with 'time' yields the straightforward meaning 'distort the passage or perception of time', so the overall sense is directly derivable from the constituents. This metaphorical but transparent composition is common in discourse (especially fiction) and would be inferable by a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Warp time comes from the image of time as a sheet or cloth that you can bend. To warp time is to fold or stretch that cloth so moments are closer or farther apart, which is why today warp time means to make time seem 'faster', 'slower', or 'distorted'.