What does biased mean?
"Biased" is an adjective describing someone or something that is unfairly inclined toward or against a person, group, idea, or outcome. A biased judge favours one contestant without good reason; a biased news report presents facts selectively; a biased sample in research misrepresents the population it claims to describe. The word derives from "bias", a noun meaning a slant or leaning, and it almost always carries negative connotations, implying a failure of fairness or objectivity. It commonly appears in the patterns "biased against", "biased towards", and "in favour of", and is frequent in discussions of media, politics, law, science, and hiring. Its antonyms include "impartial", "neutral", and "unbiased". Because accusations of bias are central to debates about fairness and credibility, "biased" is an essential word for evaluating information critically and describing uneven judgment precisely.
adjectiveUnfairly prejudiced for or against someone or something; showing an unreasonable lean in judgment or treatment.
- (of a person or their judgment) unfairly predisposed to favour or oppose someone or something
- (of data, a sample, or a process such as statistics or machine learning) systematically distorted so results deviate from true values
"The referee was accused of being biased in favour of the home team."
"Judges must remain neutral and must never be biased by personal friendships."
"The survey was dismissed because it relied on a heavily biased sample."
The word "bias" may trace back to a Greek term for things moving aslant — so every time you call something biased, you're literally saying it's off-course.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of biased
"Biased" is formed from the noun "bias" plus the adjectival suffix "-ed". "Bias" entered English from French "biais", meaning an oblique or slanting line, around the sixteenth century, originally describing the diagonal cut of cloth before extending metaphorically to mental inclination. The ultimate origin of the French word is debated, though some scholars link it to Provençal and ultimately to Greek "epikarsios", meaning oblique or sideways. The adjective "biased" arose by the seventeenth century and has since broadened from physical slanting to unfairness in judgment.
Related word forms
How biased is actually used
"Biased" is standard in both formal and everyday registers. It is typically followed by "against" or "towards/in favour of". In technical fields such as statistics and machine learning, the related noun "bias" carries a precise technical sense of systematic error; "biased" inherits this flavour in phrases like "biased estimator".
Easily confused with biased
"Bias" is the noun denoting the prejudice itself, while "biased" is the adjective describing someone or something affected by it.