unbiased
Americanadjective
adjective
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having no bias or prejudice; fair or impartial
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statistics
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(of a sample) not affected by any extraneous factors, conflated variables, or selectivity which influence its distribution; random
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(of an estimator) having an expected value equal to the parameter being estimated; having zero bias
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Also called: discriminatory. (of a significance test). Having a power greater than the predetermined significance level
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of unbiased
Explanation
To be unbiased, you have to be 100% fair — you can't have a favorite, or opinions that would color your judgment. For example, to make things as unbiased as possible, judges of an art contest didn't see the artists' names or the names of their schools and hometowns. You are unbiased if you can assess situations with a completely open mind. The root of unbiased is bias, which probably comes from the Greek word epikarsios, meaning “athwart,” “crosswise,” or “oblique.” When you have a bias, you look at the situation “from the side,” such as the side of someone who personally hates seafood telling you that Lobster Larry's is a terrible restaurant. To be unbiased you don't have biases affecting you; you are impartial and would probably make a good judge.
Vocabulary lists containing unbiased
Power Prefix: un-
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Richard Nixon's "Checkers" Speech (1952)
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Over a decade, the estimated number of U.S. court reporters has fallen 21% to fewer than 23,000, according to a 2025 report from the Council for the Advancement of Professionals, Technology and Unbiased Reporting.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026
Last summer, they started a grass-roots network called Fair and Unbiased Appraisal Advocates.
From Washington Post • Mar. 23, 2022
Karen Barrett, founder and CEO of financial advice platform Unbiased, shares her top tips for success as part of the BBC's CEO Secrets series.
From BBC • Mar. 15, 2022
In the Gauss-Markov Theorem it was proved that a least squares line is BLUE, which is, Best, Linear, Unbiased, Estimator.
From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017
Unbiased stories, or stories as nearly unbiased as possible, are what newspapers want.
From News Writing The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories by Spencer, M. Lyle (Matthew Lyle)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
