skewed

American  

[skyood] / skyud /

adjective

1. distorted or biased; giving an unfair or misleading view of something.

   After the global financial crisis, he came to realize that traditional economic models offer very skewed representations of actual economic reality.

2. having an oblique or slanting direction or position; shaped, cut, or placed on a slant.

   When mounting a streetlight pole, orientation of the anchor bolts is important so that the pole base is not skewed in relation to the centerline of the roadway.

3. deliberately slanted so as to conform to a specific concept or attitude, cater to the interests of a particular group, etc. (sometimes used in combination).

   The network has launched a new youth-skewed telenovela that has been averaging around 28 million viewers in Brazil.

   His world view is skewed to the concept that the strong exist to dominate the weak, so he judges people by their direct worth to him.

4. Statistics. (of a distribution) having a disproportionate number of data points above or below the mean.

   There is a very skewed distribution of income, with the top 20 percent of the population earning 20 times what is earned by the poorest 20 percent.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of skew.

Other Word Forms

• unskewed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of skewed

skew ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Something skewed is slanted or off-center in some way. A picture frame or viewpoint can be skewed. This is a word, like so many, that can apply to physical things or ideas. A painting on the wall is skewed if it's leaning to one side. Also, opinions are often skewed: this is another way of saying someone is biased. People often accuse news reports of being skewed toward one political viewpoint. A movie could be skewed toward one character more than the other. When you think of skewed, think of leaning and slanting of all sorts.

Example Sentences

Easter’s timing mildly skewed the data as shopping ahead of the holiday was reflected in March data this year, versus in April’s figures last year.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

To your point: average household savings figures are often skewed by high-income households, meaning typical balances are significantly lower than headline averages suggest.

From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026

The videos are real, but the picture they shape for you is often skewed, manipulated, or plain false.

From Slate • May 6, 2026

Both the Nuveen and Eaton Vance funds are heavily skewed toward the top stocks in the S&P 500, with Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon.com and Apple ranking as the largest holdings in each fund.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

At that time—and in many ways it is still true—the public was given at best a very limited and horribly skewed idea of what nuclear war would be like.

From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen

Related Words

• curved
• curving
• devious
• errant
• gnarled
• meandering
• serpentine
• sinuous
• twisted
• twisting
• winding