English Explanatory Dictionary

bias

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Inclination towards something.
  2. The diagonal line between warp and weft in a woven fabric.
  3. A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (such as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.
  4. A voltage or current applied to an electronic device, such as a transistor electrode, to move its operating point to a desired part of its transfer function.
  5. The difference between the expectation of the sample estimator and the true population value, which reduces the representativeness of the estimator by systematically distorting it.
  6. In the games of crown green bowls and lawn bowls: a weight added to one side of a bowl so that as it rolls, it will follow a curved rather than a straight path; the oblique line followed by such a bowl; the lopsided shape or structure of such a bowl. In lawn bowls, the curved course is caused only by the shape of the bowl. The use of weights is prohibited.
  7. A person's favourite member of a K-pop band.
verb
  1. To place bias upon; to influence.
  2. To give a bias to.
adj
  1. Inclined to one side; swelled on one side.
  2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.
  3. Synonym of biased (“exhibiting bias; prejudiced”).
adv
  1. In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally.
name
  1. One of the Seven Sages of Greece from Priene, living in the 6th century BCE.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈbaɪ.əs/ en-us-bias.ogg /ˈbaj.as/ /baˈjæs/

Word forms

bias biases biasses biasing biassing biased biassed more bias most bias

Etymology

c. 1520 in the sense "oblique line". As a technical term in the game of bowls c. 1560, whence the figurative use (c. 1570). From Middle French biais, adverbially ("sideways, askance, against the grain") c. 1250, as a noun ("oblique angle, slant") from the late 16th century. The French word is likely from Old Occitan biais, itself of obscure origin, most likely from Vulgar Latin *biaxius (“with two axes”).

Synonyms

predisposition partiality prejudice preference predilection biased

Derived words

antibias attrition bias automation bias availability bias biasable bias binding bias distortion bias lighting biasness bias-ply bias-robust bias tape biaswise brake bias Chebyshev's bias cognitive bias confirmation bias debias disposition bias Dunning-Kruger bias forward bias healthy user bias healthy worker bias Malmquist bias maybe baby bias metabias myside bias negativity bias nonbias normalcy bias normality bias on the bias overbias part-whole bias publication bias rebias recency bias selection bias survival bias survivor bias survivorship bias unbias unbiased windshield bias
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