biased

1. 1
   adjective

   Showing unfair preference for or against someone or something; prejudiced.

   Critics dismissed the documentary as biased and one-sided.

   A biased juror cannot weigh the evidence fairly.

   Similarprejudiced, partial, tendentious

   Oppositeimpartial, unbiased, neutral, fair

   Note

   An adjective built from the noun bias with -ed, so it looks like a participle but usually works as a plain description of a person or an account. In speech it often turns inward as a disarming hedge: "Obviously I'm biased, but…" owns a partiality before offering praise. Of its near-synonyms, partial and prejudiced fit people, while tendentious suits writing and arguments.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of bias.

   A poorly worded question biased the entire poll.

   Years of negative coverage biased the public against the company.

   Note

   One spelling serves both the simple past (she biased them) and the participle after have or be (had biased, was biased). The verb is transitive and often names a direction with against. In the passive, "was biased against him" sits very close to the adjective of prejudice. The difference is whether someone did the influencing or the leaning is simply described.

3. 3
   adjective

   Showing a systematic distortion in results caused by a factor that was not accounted for; skewed.

   The estimator was biased, consistently overstating the true mean.

   Researchers found the survey biased toward wealthier households.

   Similarskewed, distorted

   Oppositeunbiased

   Note

   Here the fault lies in a method, not a mind. A biased estimator or measurement has an expected value that differs systematically from the true value, because some factor went unaccounted for. Nobody need be prejudiced for a survey to come out biased. It also differs from the weighted-coin sense, where the unequal outcomes belong to the object itself rather than to the procedure studying it.

4. 4
   adjective

   Made so that its possible outcomes do not all have equal probability; weighted.

   The dice were biased, rolling sixes far more often than chance allows.

   A biased spinner brings up one color more often than the rest.

   Similarloaded, weighted, rigged

   Oppositefair

5. 5
   adjective

   Set or cut at a slant rather than straight or square.

   The tailor used a biased strip to bind the curved edge.

   Each panel was biased, set at a slant rather than square to the frame.

   Similarslanted, diagonal, angled, oblique

   Oppositestraight, square

   Note

   Cloth explains this one: the noun bias names the diagonal line between warp and weft, and fabric cut along that line is biased. Cut that way, it stretches and drapes more than cloth cut on the straight grain. That is why a biased strip can bind a curved edge smoothly. Outside sewing, the word simply means set at a slant, as with a table's edge.

6. 6
   adjective

   Having an electrical bias applied; set to a chosen operating voltage or current.

   The amplifier's biased transistor held a steady operating point.

   Engineers adjusted the biased input stage to reduce distortion.

   Note

   In electronics the word describes a component, typically a transistor or diode, that has a fixed DC voltage or current applied to set its operating point, quite apart from whatever signal passes through it. The bias is the applied voltage or current, and the part that receives it is biased. Engineers speak of a biased stage or input with no hint of unfairness.

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