skew

[ skyoo ]

verb (used with object)

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

   In a crochet project, a slip stitch can skew the edge a bit if you use it to finish the final round.

2. to make conform to a specific concept, attitude, or planned result; slant:

   The television show is skewed to the young teenager.

3. to distort; depict unfairly:

   When other researchers looked into the report, they found misrepresentation of data that skewed the evidence.

4. Statistics. to cause (a distribution) to have a disproportionate number of data points above or below the mean:

   The income categories for transit commuters were skewed toward higher incomes because the survey was only distributed through a phone app.

verb (used without object)

1. to turn aside or swerve; take an oblique course:

   The car skewed sharply to the right when it hit the patch of ice.

2. to display a tendency in a particular direction:

   My reading skews toward nonfiction, which I suppose isn't that surprising for a historian.

3. to be distorted or unfairly depicted:

   The narrative presented by the country's leading newspapers skews toward an account that fits the needs of the state.

4. to look obliquely; squint.

noun

1. a tendency in a particular direction:

   Officials involved in budget-related discussions said that there was a skew towards social sector spending.

2. an oblique movement, direction, or position.
3. Also called skew chisel. a wood chisel having a cutting edge set obliquely.

adjective

1. having an oblique direction or position; slanting; sideways:

   The picture is square, but the angles of the trees give it a skew look.

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

   skew gearing.

3. Mathematics. (of a dyad or dyadic) equal to the negative of its conjugate.
4. (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.
5. Statistics. (of a distribution) not symmetrical; having skewness.

skew

/ skjuː /

adjective

1. placed in or turning into an oblique position or course
2. machinery having a component that is at an angle to the main axis of an assembly or is in some other way asymmetrical

   a skew bevel gear

3. maths
   1. 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
   2. (of a curve) not lying in a plane
4. (of a statistical distribution) not having equal probabilities above and below the mean; non-normal
5. distorted or biased

noun

1. an oblique, slanting, or indirect course or position
2. 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

1. to take or cause to take an oblique course or direction
2. intr to look sideways; squint
3. tr to place at an angle
4. tr to distort or bias

skew

/ skyo̅o̅ /

1. 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.
2. Also called shear

Word History and Origins

Origin of skew¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; (for the verb) Middle English skewen “to slip away, swerve,” from Middle Dutch schuwen “to get out of the way, shun,” derivative of schu ( Dutch schuw ) shy ¹; adjective derivative of the verb, probably by analogy with askew; noun derivative of the verb and adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of skew¹

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

Example Sentences

Hillis also emailed lawmakers with a personal plea, pitching the bill as a way to entice more young people, who tend to skew liberal, into the Republican fold.

From Washington Post

Even though this is an activity skewed towards to wealthier people, it is helping a remote economy, and it is getting people outside at a time when we feel caged in.

From Time

That’s both because it was a shortened year — only 23 appearances for him — and because pitch usage doesn’t often skew much for a guy who throws a near-even diet of sliders and four-seam fastballs.

From Washington Post

Day-care operators say their workers, whose employees tend to skew older than teachers and often make minimum wage, should be next in line for vaccination.

From Washington Post

Parler attracted an audience that skewed hard to the right, including some who came to the service because they believed Twitter was biased against conservatives.

From ProPublica

In Scotland, hourly wage inequality matches the rest of the United Kingdom once the skew of London is factored out.

From The Daily Beast

Other colleges took more overt actions to skew their Clery Act numbers.

From The Daily Beast

There are a number of inadvertent and purposeful ways for universities to skew their Clery Act numbers.

From The Daily Beast

Those numbers skew heavily toward the males, with just over 11 percent of male high school students reporting use.

From The Daily Beast

Using capital gains but not government income would tend to skew the results toward the wealthy.

From The Daily Beast

Niagara Falls' spectacular skew-wise splashing toward the Canadian side didn't set many hearts at ease, either.

From Project Gutenberg

She was put together skew-geed an' one side of her was so out of geer that she couldn't run straight even on a macadam road.

From Project Gutenberg

Another bridge is a perfectly constructed skew arch, which the train crosses a few feet after leaving Chicago.

From Project Gutenberg

That'll make everyone skew all weird and screwy, and make everyone look guilty.

From Project Gutenberg

Of a truth I will even buy me a skew-bald mount and ride round corners in search of the like reputation.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• alter
• bias
• misrepresent
• slant