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.
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.
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.
Electronics. to apply a steady voltage or current to (the input of an active device).
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
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 The plural form biasses is obsolete and should be avoided.
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.
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)
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"There's a lot of bias that goes into that two cents," Weber said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
“We think LLY can beat numbers and has upside bias to consensus earnings estimates,” the analysts write.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
One major pitfall is that it may introduce visual bias into the hiring process, she noted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
One of the biggest challenges is sampling bias because animals actively guarding eggs are much easier to notice and photograph than species that provide no parental care.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
A bit of common sense is overdue in public discussions about racial bias in the criminal justice system.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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
Bias is for bulls to buy dips above $4,800/oz and attempt an advance toward $5,000/oz in the near term.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
Craighill told the Post that Advantage advised Bias to moderate his spending but couldn’t force him to do that.
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 after an investor has begun to participate in the markets, he or she may have developed biases that are hard to overcome.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 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
"Between attentional biases and depressive symptoms, we looked at the way that they were mutually predicting one another across the time points, which is especially novel and hasn't been done before."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
“The Pitt’s” depiction of such subjects includes unflinching attention to microaggressions and unconscious biases.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Instead of allowing each officer to rely on his or her own limited experience and biases in detecting suspicious behavior, a drug-courier profile affords every officer the advantage of the agency’s collective experience and expertise.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
He put this partially down to the first two weeks of the period tending to correlate with Wall Street two-year projections – which are biased lower.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Instead, such episodes seemed to reinforce his perception that he was climbing a mountain alone, battling institutions that were already biased against raw milk before hearing his case.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
While engineers have spent decades trying to create “explainable AI,” a defining characteristic of today’s large language models is that they remain biased black boxes that are capricious in their decision-making.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
"I might be biased saying this, but it definitely deserved to win," said the church's Reverend Kim Williams.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Would I be accusing someone just because I’m biased?
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
Uninfluenced, un-in′flōō-enst, adj. not subject to, or acted upon by, influence: not biassed or prejudiced.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
As minds are differently biassed, this fact will be differently judged.
From Ti-Ping Tien-Kwoh The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution (Volume I) by Lindley, Augustus F.
In′terested, having an interest or concern: affected or biassed by personal considerations, self-interest, &c.—adv.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
He should not be biassed by any appearances; have no favourite hypothesis; be of no school; and in doctrine have no master.
From Heroes of Science: Physicists by Garnett, William
The public at large is generally just, because too enormous to be individually canvassed; but private circles are almost universally biassed by partial or prejudiced influence.
From The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Burney, Fanny
That meant that researchers could keep the organoids separated without biasing their experimental results.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2025
Bullard said it's not just inflation biasing the Fed toward more action.
From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2023
Generated text can be watermarked by secretly tagging a subset of words and then biasing the selection of a word to be a synonymous tagged word.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2023
It can mean, for example, that a forensics lab—already strapped for funding and time—needs an extra person to serve as a case manager who screens possibly biasing information from a blinded analyst.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 18, 2023
There was one rule, or rather the absence of it, which had appealed very strongly to Mrs. Harold and gone a long way toward biasing her choice in favor of the school.
From Peggy Stewart at School by Jackson, Gabrielle E. (Gabrielle Emilie)
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 Overend, William Heysham
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 Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
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 Scott, Walter, Sir
There would be no harm in biassing me in her favour.
From Ellen Middleton—A Tale by Fullerton, Georgiana
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 Allen, Grant
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.
