The aim of the present paper will be to derive an equation of dissipation of energy for a rotating body of arbitrary viscosity distorted by tides, which arise from the gravitational field of its companion in a close pair of such bodies. By a transformation of the fundamental equation of energy dissipation in terms of velocity of tidal deformation (Section 2), the dissipation function is constructed for a tidally-distorted body (Section 3). From this equation, the rate of dissipation of tidal energy is formulated for a nearly-spherical rotating body distorted by second harmonic longitudinal tides (Section 4); the coefficients of viscosity (or the bulk modulus) are treated as arbitrary functions of spatial coordinates. Finally (Section 5), expressions for the total energy dissipation within the orbital cycle are given for axial rotation of the distorted body, provided its angular velocity is constant (for example, with the Keplerian angular velocity).