Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Favoring one person, group, or side over another in an unfair way: Showing an unjust preference or prejudice that prevents impartial judgment.
   • Having a skewed or distorted perspective: Influenced by personal feelings, interests, or preconceptions, leading to a lack of objectivity.

Usage

• The word "biased" describes a person, opinion, statement, report, or process that is not neutral or fair. It implies a lack of balance and a tendency to support one viewpoint without adequate consideration of alternatives.
• It is commonly used in contexts involving judgment, reporting, research, and decision-making to criticize a lack of fairness.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The journalist was accused of writing a biased article that favored the mayor.
  • The study's results are considered biased because the company funding it sells the product being tested.
  • It's hard to get a fair trial if the jury is biased against the defendant.

Advanced Usage

• "to be biased toward(s)/in favor of": To show unfair preference for someone or something.
  • The manager is biased toward candidates from his own university.
• "to be biased against": To show unfair prejudice or dislike against someone or something.
  • The old policy was biased against younger applicants.

Variants and Related Words

• Bias (n): A strong feeling in favor of or against one group, person, or thing, often considered unfair.
  • The researcher tried to eliminate any bias from the experiment.
• Unbiased (adj): The opposite of biased; fair and impartial.
  • We need an unbiased observer to settle this dispute.

Synonyms

• Prejudiced: Having a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason.
• Partial: Favoring one side in a dispute above the other.
• One-sided: Considering or showing only one side of an issue; unbalanced.
• Slanted: Presenting information from a particular angle, especially a biased one.

Antonyms

• Impartial: Treating all rivals or disputants equally.
• Neutral: Not supporting or helping either side in a conflict.
• Objective: Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions; considering only facts.
• Fair: Treating people equally without favoritism or discrimination.

Idioms and Phrases

• "A biased sample": In statistics or research, a sample that is not representative of the whole population, leading to skewed results.
  • The survey only asked people in one neighborhood, so it's a biased sample.
• "Show one's bias": To reveal one's partiality or prejudice.
  • By interrupting only one speaker, the moderator showed her bias.

Adjective

1. favoring one person or side over another
   • a biased account of the trial
   • a decision that was partial to the defendant