bias

noun

1. Inclination towards something; predisposition, partiality, prejudice, preference, predilection.

2. The diagonal line between warp and weft in a woven fabric.

3. A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (such as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.

4. A voltage or current applied to an electronic device, such as a transistor electrode, to move its operating point to a desired part of its transfer function.

5. The difference between the expectation of the sample estimator and the true population value, which reduces the representativeness of the estimator by systematically distorting it.

6. In the games of crown green bowls and lawn bowls: a weight added to one side of a bowl so that as it rolls, it will follow a curved rather than a straight path; the oblique line followed by such a bowl; the lopsided shape or structure of such a bowl. In lawn bowls, the curved course is caused only by the shape of the bowl. The use of weights is prohibited.

verb

1. To place bias upon; to influence.

   Example “Our prejudices bias our views.”

adjective

1. Inclined to one side; swelled on one side.

2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.

Related synonyms biased

adverb

1. In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally.

   Example “to cut cloth bias”