bias
noun
a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion, especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned.
bias
1 American
[bahy-uhs]
/ ˈbaɪ əs /
noun
-
biases
plural
-
a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion, especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned.
The hiring manager was found to have shown bias against job applicants who wore less expensive clothing.
The magazine’s bias is toward art rather than photography.
We need to set aside our strong bias in favor of the idea and evaluate it logically.
- Synonyms:
- leaning, bent, proclivity, partiality, predilection, preconception, predisposition
- Antonyms:
- impartiality
-
unreasonably hostile feelings or opinions about a social group; prejudice.
The show’s host has faced accusations of racial bias.
-
an oblique or diagonal line of direction, especially across a woven fabric.
-
Statistics. a systematic as opposed to random distortion of a statistic as a result of sampling procedure.
-
Electronics. the application of a steady voltage or current to an active device, such as a diode or transistor, to produce a desired mode of operation.
-
a high-frequency alternating current applied to the recording head of a tape recorder during recording in order to reduce distortion.
-
Lawn Bowling.
-
a slight bulge or greater weight on one side of the ball or bowl.
-
the curved course made by such a ball when rolled.
-
adjective
adverb
verb (used with object)
-
biases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
biased,
past participle, past
-
biassed,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
biasing,
present participle
-
biassing
present participle (especially British)
-
to cause to hold or exhibit a particular bias; to influence, especially unfairly.
The defendant gave a tearful plea designed to bias the jury.
The survey was heavily biased toward highly educated people.
- Synonyms:
- bend, predispose, dispose, incline
-
Electronics. to apply a steady voltage or current to (the input of an active device).
idioms
Bias
2
American
[bahy-uhs]
/ ˈbaɪ əs /
noun
bias
British
/ ˈbaɪəs /
noun
-
mental tendency or inclination, esp an irrational preference or prejudice
-
a diagonal line or cut across the weave of a fabric
-
electronics the voltage applied to an electronic device or system to establish suitable working conditions
-
bowls
-
a bulge or weight inside one side of a bowl
-
the curved course of such a bowl on the green
-
-
statistics
-
an extraneous latent influence on, unrecognized conflated variable in, or selectivity in a sample which influences its distribution and so renders it unable to reflect the desired population parameters
-
if T is an estimator of the parameter θ , the expected value of ( T–θ )
-
-
an inaudible high-frequency signal used to improve the quality of a tape recording
adjective
adverb
verb
Usage
Plural word for bias The plural form of bias is biases, pronounced [ bahy-uhs-eez ] or [ bahy-uhs-ehz ]. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -s are also formed this way, including alias/aliases, moss/mosses, and lens/lenses. However, bias is often used as a mass noun, meaning that in some instances bias may be used as either a singular or a plural form. The plural form biasses is obsolete and should be avoided.
Synonym Usage
Bias, prejudice mean a strong inclination of the mind or a preconceived opinion about something or someone. A bias may be favorable or unfavorable: bias in favor of or against an idea. Prejudice implies a preformed judgment even more unreasoning than bias, and usually implies an unfavorable opinion: prejudice against people of another religion.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
biassimple
-
biasessimple
-
have biasedperfect
-
have biassedperfect
-
has biasedperfect
-
has biassedperfect
-
am biasingprogressive
-
am biassingprogressive
-
are biasingprogressive
-
are biassingprogressive
-
is biasingprogressive
-
is biassingprogressive
-
have been biasingperfect progressive
-
have been biassingperfect progressive
-
has been biasingperfect progressive
-
has been biassingperfect progressive
Past
-
biasedsimple
-
biassedsimple
-
had biasedperfect
-
had biassedperfect
-
was biasingprogressive
-
was biassingprogressive
-
were biasingprogressive
-
were biassingprogressive
-
had been biasingperfect progressive
-
had been biassingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bias
First recorded in 1520–30; from Middle French biais “obliqueness,” from Old Provençal, probably from Vulgar Latin (e)bigassius (unrecorded), from Greek epikársios “oblique,” from epi- epi- + -karsios “oblique”; alternatively, from Vulgar Latin biaxius (unrecorded) “having two axes” ( see bi-, axis)
Explanation
Use the noun bias to mean a preference for one thing over another, especially an unfair one. Some biases are completely innocent: "I have a bias toward French wines." But most often, bias is used to describe unfair prejudices: "The authorities investigated a case involving bias against Latinos." It is also a verb meaning "to show prejudice for or against," as in "They claimed the tests were biased against women." (In British English, it takes an extra S in the forms biassed and biassing.) The word goes back at least to Old Provençal, a former language of southern France, in association with the sport of lawn bowling, where it referred to the tendency of a ball to roll in one direction or the other.
Vocabulary lists containing bias
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Argumentative Writing
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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.
See Examples For:
In June the Fed had an easy decision to make: remove the sentence suggesting a bias to ease and get a unanimous vote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Under former Fed Chair Jerome Powell, for instance, bond markets tended to be more reactive to his press conferences rather than the policy bias from statements by the Federal Open Market Committee.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
"AI holds a mirror up to society. It's a reflection of our bias," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
"Improved public services and better learning outcomes in schools will reinforce trust -- but if AI embeds bias in government decisions or erodes data privacy, that trust will be difficult to recover," said the statement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
Most striking, perhaps, is the overwhelming evidence that implicit bias measures are disassociated from explicit bias measures.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
After George Floyd’s death, the university opened an Intercultural Diversity Center, a Hate & Bias Hotline and a Safe to Pee program to deter “discrimination against gender variant people in public restrooms.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Members of UCLA’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, which in a 2024 report found “broad-based perceptions of antisemitic and anti-Israeli bias on campus,” did not sign.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
The Bias case raised questions about the extent to which agents can control clients’ spending sprees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
That is the finding of a new research study, “Conflicting News, Negativity Bias, and Short-Term Return Predictability.”
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 24, 2025
I read the report of Bias Roca, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, about their years as an illegal organization during the Batista regime.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
But all inevitably carry their own biases, and none have the intimate understanding, sustained commitment or enduring responsibility that parents have for their children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The researchers found significant variability in the advice and spotted some potential demographic biases.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Even if they have some of these biases, they recognize that they shouldn’t be telling the experimenter about those biases,” he explains.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
One of its core biases is that value stocks outperform growth stocks, which of course they haven’t for over a decade.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
“My biases. What about your biases? What about thinking everyone who hates your father as much as you do is an ally?”
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
He was freed after his conviction was overturned on procedural grounds, with the presiding judge also later ruled to have been biased.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The doctor of the diaries comes across as all too human—stubborn, biased, vain and vindictive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
I’m definitely biased, but you’re moving to the best city in the world.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Denise Webb, a 61-year-old who works as a support worker in the area, accused Farage of being "biased", "negative" and "not a very nice man".
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
In theory, peremptory strikes may increase the fairness of the proceeding by eliminating jurors who may be biased but whose biases cannot be demonstrated convincingly to a judge.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
My Lewis always says that my figure is exactly right, but I dare say he's biassed.
From The War-Workers by E.M. Delafield
The same spirit, biassed by sentiment not ruled by reason, has remained since more has been disclosed of the real nature of this Codex208.
From The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels by John William Burgon
He was not one to be biassed by personal feelings or beguiled by fair appearances, in the face of stubborn, unaccountable facts.
From The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2) by Florence A. Thomas Marshall
Nor for every defect in faithfulness, through ignorance, want of courage, misinformation, or being biassed with affection for particular persons.
From A Hind Let Loose Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland for the Interest of Christ. With the True State Thereof in All Its Periods by Alexander Shields
It is confirmed by other evidence, Catholic, Dissenting, pagan, scientific, and by the reports of illiterate men, unbiassed by science, and little biassed by religion.
From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Andrew Lang
While not all participants had pets of their own, their fondness for animals likely motivated their willingness to participate in the experiment, potentially biasing the results.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2024
But he told Reuters in an interview that the economy is biasing the central bank in that direction.
From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2023
In a 2020 study, epidemiologist Reem Masarwa, then a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University in Montreal, and colleagues explored whether confounding factors such as heredity and maternal illness could be biasing acetaminophen research.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2023
That could cause the team to miss thousands of infections that caused few or no symptoms, potentially biasing the results.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 19, 2023
What are the results of such methods of biasing the mind?
From Mother Earth, Vol. 1 No. 2, April 1906 Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature by Emma Goldman
There would be no harm in biassing me in her favour.
From Ellen Middleton—A Tale by Georgiana Fullerton
The subject is one of immense importance, and especially in this country, where it can seldom be discussed without adventitious circumstances biassing the inquirers.
From The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
Even if he was going to revise his views, was it right, was it candid, was it loyal to the truth, that he should revise them under the biassing influence of Meenie's eyes?
From Strange Stories by Grant Allen
He did not," he said, "state the impression upon his own mind with the purpose of biassing theirs.
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 by Sir Walter Scott
However, this is beside the question; and I want to avoid biassing your decision in any way.
From Afloat at Last A Sailor Boy's Log of his Life at Sea by William Heysham Overend
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.
