as in gymnast
a performer who twists his or her body into unusual positions
The circus included a contortionist who could put both feet behind her head.
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Recent Examples of contortionist
Dawn Porter’s documentary outlines the origins of the ambitious show and captures the company’s journey to resume performances after the pandemic by shadowing some of its immensely skilled contortionists, aerialists and artistic swimmers.
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Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
The artists include musicians, contortionists, aerialists and even kayakers.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 21 July 2024
What has also remained since this Cirque du Soleil production debuted 19 years ago is the array of trapeze artists, hand-balancing performers, contortionists, aerialists, flying bicycle acts, jugglers, roue cyr wheelists, tournik (horizontal bars) troupes, trampoline acrobats and comedy bits.
—Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 20 June 2024
The body is lying face down, and the legs swing up into the air, backward, and get placed down to the left and right side of the robot's butt in a crazy contortionist's pretzel position.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 17 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for contortionist 
Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
The artists include musicians, contortionists, aerialists and even kayakers.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 21 July 2024
What has also remained since this Cirque du Soleil production debuted 19 years ago is the array of trapeze artists, hand-balancing performers, contortionists, aerialists, flying bicycle acts, jugglers, roue cyr wheelists, tournik (horizontal bars) troupes, trampoline acrobats and comedy bits.
—Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 20 June 2024
The body is lying face down, and the legs swing up into the air, backward, and get placed down to the left and right side of the robot's butt in a crazy contortionist's pretzel position.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 17 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for contortionist
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Cite this Entry
“Contortionist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contortionist. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
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