Standard Lemma guide

contortionist

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kənˈtɔː(ɹ)ʃənɪst/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH0 N T AO1 R SH AH0 N AH0 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An acrobat who is capable of twisting their body into unusual positions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

One who twists words and phrases.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an acrobat able to twist into unusual positions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: acrobat

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *terkw- Proto-Italic *torkweō Latin torqueō Latin contorqueō Latin contortus Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin contortiōder. Middle French contortionder. English contortion Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English contortionist From contortion + -ist.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: slangmens — acrobat
  • Afrikaans: lyfvlegter — acrobat
  • Asturian: contorsionista — acrobat
  • Catalan: contorsionista — acrobat
  • Chinese Mandarin: 柔術演員 /柔术演员 (róushù yǎnyuán) — acrobat
  • Czech: hadí žena — acrobat
  • Czech: hadí muž — acrobat
  • Danish: slangemenneske — acrobat
  • Dutch: slangenmens — acrobat
  • Dutch: contorsionist — acrobat
  • Dutch: contorsioniste — acrobat
  • Dzongkha: བཟོ་སྒྱུར་པ (bzo sgyur pa) — acrobat
  • Finnish: käärmeihminen — acrobat
  • French: contorsionniste — acrobat
  • Galician: contorsionista — acrobat
  • German: Schlangenmensch — acrobat
  • German: Kontorsionist — acrobat
  • Hungarian: kígyóember — acrobat
  • Hungarian: gumiember — acrobat
  • Italian: contorsionista — acrobat
  • Italian: uomo ragno — acrobat
  • Polish: kontorsjonista — acrobat
  • Polish: kontorsjonistka — acrobat
  • Portuguese: contorcionista — acrobat
  • Romanian: contorsionist — acrobat
  • Russian: челове́к-змея́ (čelovék-zmejá) — acrobat
  • Russian: конторсиони́ст (kontorsioníst) — acrobat
  • Russian: конторсиони́стка (kontorsionístka) — acrobat
  • Spanish: contorsionista — acrobat
  • Swedish: ormmänniska — acrobat
  • Tagalog: kontorsiyonista — acrobat