To be twisted means to be turned, bent, or wound around something, often in a spiral or coiled shape. If you twist a rope, you wind its strands tighter together. Tree roots often grow in twisted patterns as they work around rocks. A twisted ankle happens when your foot turns suddenly in the wrong direction, causing the joint to bend unnaturally and painfully.

In stories and movies, people use twisted to describe something disturbing or warped in a dark way. A villain might have a twisted sense of humor, finding things funny that should horrify them. A twisted plot takes unexpected, often unsettling turns. When someone describes another person's thinking as twisted, they mean it's distorted or morally wrong.

The word can also describe something tangled or knotted up. Headphone cords seem to get twisted no matter how carefully you store them. After a restless night, your sheets might end up completely twisted around your legs.

Context tells you whether twisted means physically coiled, mentally disturbed, tangled, or surprising in some way.