bias

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Inclination towards something.

   “Morality […] give[s] a bias to all their [men's] actions.”

   “nature has pointed out a mixed kind of life as most suitable to the human race, and secretly admonished them to allow none of these biasses to draw too much”

   “Researchers worry that the people who are building artificial intelligence systems may be building their own biases into the technology.”

   “Reshaping [of British Railways] was far from perfect. It was tainted by statistical overreach, the unconscious biases of its author, and by the political demands being placed upon the BRB by government.”

2. (countable)The diagonal line between warp and weft in a woven fabric.
3. (countable)A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (such as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.
4. (countable, uncountable)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. (countable, uncountable)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. (countable, uncountable)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.

   “there is a concealed bias within the spheroid”

7. (countable, uncountable)A person's favourite member of a K-pop band.

   “The last thing you want is for your camera to die when you finally get that selca with your bias.”

   “Sweet, sensitive, and impossibly sassy, V is many fans' bias, and an integral member of the group.”

   “One in particular, Minho, really caught my eye. He became what is called my bias or favorite member.”

verb

1. (transitive)To place bias upon; to influence.

   “Our prejudices bias our views.”

   “No doubt they overlook the L.M.R.'s allegedly faulty financial estimates for the Euston-Liverpool/Manchester scheme, which have biassed the Treasury, and perhaps the open-minded Dr. Beeching, against electrification without renewed examination of projects.”

2. To give a bias to.

   “2002, H. Dijkstra, J. Libby, Overview of silicon detectors, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 494, 86–93, p. 87. On the ohmic side n⁺ is implanted to provide the ohmic contact to bias the detector.”

adj

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

   “Thou, trumpet, there’s my purſe; / Now cracke thy lungs, and ſplit thy braſen pipe: / Blow, villaine, till thy ſphered Bias cheeke / Out-ſwell the collicke of puft Aquilon: / Come, ſtretch thy cheſt, and let thy eyes ſpout bloud: / Thou bloweſt for Hector.”

2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.
3. (nonstandard)Synonym of biased (“exhibiting bias; prejudiced”).

   “Tom's vitality and energy were perfect for the role and I think Milos made the perfect choice! Am I bias? Certainly ... but for good reason!”

   “I wont deny I'm bias to Godzilla, and I guess that got mixed in my post, though I tried not to. But I really did mean to point out that we're getting mixed reviews on the film, and not to give up hope because of what Norman had to say.”

   “Viewing HHH's early works (when his filmic style didn't completely mature), I'm "bias" to love them because they gave me the Taiwanese flavor which I couldn't get from mainland China directors' works.”

   “Waddaya want, he sounds like a sales guy whose main customers are contractors. Of course he's bias and ready to defend his bread and butter.”

adv

1. (not-comparable)In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally.

   “to cut cloth bias”

name

1. (historical)One of the Seven Sages of Greece from Priene, living in the 6th century BCE.
2. A surname.