skew

[ skyoo ]

/ skyu /

verb (used without object)

to turn aside or swerve; take an oblique course.

to look obliquely; squint.

verb (used with object)

to give an oblique direction to; shape, form, or cut obliquely.

Slang. to make conform to a specific concept, attitude, or planned result; slant: The television show is skewed to the young teenager.

to distort; depict unfairly.

adjective

having an oblique direction or position; slanting.

having a part that deviates from a straight line, right angle, etc.: skew gearing.

Mathematics. (of a dyad or dyadic) equal to the negative of its conjugate.

(of an arch, bridge, etc.) having the centerline of its opening forming an oblique angle with the direction in which its spanning structure is built.

Statistics. (of a distribution) having skewness.

noun

an oblique movement, direction, or position.

Also called skew chisel. a wood chisel having a cutting edge set obliquely.

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Origin of skew

1350–1400; (v.) Middle English skewen to slip away, swerve < Middle Dutch schuwen to get out of the way, shun, derivative of schu (Dutch schuw) shy¹; (adj.) derivative of the v. (probably influenced by askew); (noun) derivative of the v. and adj.

OTHER WORDS FROM skew

un·skewed, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH skew

skew skewer

Words nearby skew

sketchbook, sketchpad, sketchy, skete, skeuomorph, skew, skew arch, skew field, skew lines, skew symmetry, skew-symmetric

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for skew

In Scotland, hourly wage inequality matches the rest of the United Kingdom once the skew of London is factored out.
Scotland’s ‘Yes’ Campaign and the Myth of Scottish Equality|Noah Caldwell|September 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Other colleges took more overt actions to skew their Clery Act numbers.
No Rapes On Campus? No Way.|Emily Shire|July 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There are a number of inadvertent and purposeful ways for universities to skew their Clery Act numbers.
No Rapes On Campus? No Way.|Emily Shire|July 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Using capital gains but not government income would tend to skew the results toward the wealthy.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows, April 27|PunditFact.com|April 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

I think we skew a little younger than some of the other shows.
How the Dark and Stylish Drama ‘Suits’ Became USA’s Best Show|Jason Lynch|March 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The skew is used in cutting both to the right and to the left, and therefore, must be beveled on both sides.
A Course In Wood Turning|Archie S. Milton and Otto K. Wohlers
A carver's skew chisel will be, perhaps, more generally useful for your work than one ground squarely across.
Woodworking for Beginners|Charles Gardner Wheeler
After the stock has been roughed away with the gouge to the approximate angle desired, a smoothing cut is taken with the skew.
A Course In Wood Turning|Archie S. Milton and Otto K. Wohlers
Among the skew bridges on Mr. Brunels railways, there are a few of extreme obliquity.
The life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer|Isambard Brunel
Care should be taken that the skew chisel is held at the exact angle of the taper desired.
A Course In Wood Turning|Archie S. Milton and Otto K. Wohlers

British Dictionary definitions for skew

skew

/ (skjuː) /

adjective

placed in or turning into an oblique position or course

machinery having a component that is at an angle to the main axis of an assembly or is in some other way asymmetricala skew bevel gear

maths

composed of or being elements that are neither parallel nor intersecting as, for example, two lines not lying in the same plane in a three-dimensional space
(of a curve) not lying in a plane

(of a statistical distribution) not having equal probabilities above and below the mean; non-normal

distorted or biased

noun

an oblique, slanting, or indirect course or position

psychol the system of relationships in a family in which one parent is extremely dominating while the other parent tends to be meekly compliant

verb

to take or cause to take an oblique course or direction

(intr) to look sideways; squint

(tr) to place at an angle

(tr) to distort or bias

Word Origin for skew

C14: from Old Norman French escuer to shun, of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch schuwen to avoid

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for skew

skew

[ skyōō ]

A transformation of coordinates in which one coordinate is displaced in one direction in proportion to its distance from a coordinate plane or axis. A rectangle, for example, that undergoes skew is transformed into a parallelogram. Also called shear

skew

verb (used without object)

verb (used with object)

adjective

noun

QUIZZES

CAN YOU ACE THIS QUIZ ABOUT “COMPLIMENT” VS. “COMPLEMENT”?

Origin of skew

OTHER WORDS FROM skew

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH skew

Words nearby skew

Words related to skew

Example sentences from the Web for skew

British Dictionary definitions for skew

adjective

noun

verb

Word Origin for skew

Scientific definitions for skew