partisan bias

Meaning

1. 1noununcountabledisapproving

   Unfair favoritism toward one political party or side that shapes how someone judges, reports or decides things.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable: accused of partisan bias; the plural is rare.

   Patterns

   • partisan bias in something
   • accuse someone of partisan bias

   Critics accused the news channel of partisan bias in its election coverage.

   The judge denied any partisan bias in the ruling.

   A survey found partisan bias in how people rated the economy.

Common combinations

accuse of partisan bias

The senator accused the commission of partisan bias.

show partisan bias

The report showed clear partisan bias in its choice of experts.

avoid partisan bias

The pollsters tried to avoid partisan bias by balancing the sample.

alleged partisan bias

The alleged partisan bias led to a formal complaint.

evidence of partisan bias

Researchers found evidence of partisan bias in the ratings.

Synonyms and how they differ

political bias

Political bias is broader, whereas partisan bias refers specifically to loyalty to a party.

favoritism

Favoritism can be about any preferred person, while partisan bias is limited to party or side.

slant

Slant describes a leaning in reporting and is milder than bias.

prejudice

Prejudice is a general unfair opinion formed beforehand, not tied to politics.

Opposites

Word family

partisan adjective

strongly supporting one party or cause

bipartisan adjective

involving two parties working together

nonpartisan adjective

not supporting any party

bias noun

unfair leaning toward one side

Commonly confused: partisan bias or bipartisan?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “partisan bias”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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