Meaning & use
skew
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To distort something so that it gives a misleading picture, usually by pushing it toward one side or one result.
Grammar: Takes an object: a biased sample can skew the results.
Patterns
- skew something
- skew something toward something
- skew something in favor of someone
Asking only your friends will skew the survey, because they all like the same things.
A few extreme salaries can skew the average upward.
The commentator's loyalty to the club skewed his account of the match.
verbtransitive or intransitivetechnical
To turn, slant, or lie at an angle instead of being straight or square.
Grammar: Can take an object or stand alone: the camera skewed the picture; the shelf skews to the left.
Patterns
- skew to something
The old fence has started to skew toward the road.
If the printer skews the paper, the text will come out crooked.
nounsingular
A lean or bias in one direction, especially in a set of figures or in a way of presenting something.
Grammar: Usually a singular noun, often followed by toward: a skew toward younger voters.
Patterns
- a skew toward something
- a skew in something
The data show a clear skew toward urban households.
Editors worried about the political skew of the coverage.
On the graph, the right-hand skew is easy to see.
Word forms
| third person singular | skews |
|---|---|
| past tense | skewed |
| past participle | skewed |
| -ing form | skewing |
| plural noun | skews |
Common combinations
- skew the results
- A poorly worded question can skew the results of a poll.
- skew the data
- Missing records skewed the data and led to a wrong conclusion.
- skew toward
- The audience skews toward people under thirty.
- skew heavily
- Reviews on that site skew heavily positive.
- a skewed view
- Watching only one news channel gives you a skewed view of events.
Synonyms and how they differ
- distort
- Distort is broader and can describe sound, images or facts, while skew usually suggests a one-sided push, especially in numbers or opinions.
- bias
- As a verb, bias stresses unfair influence on a person or process, whereas skew describes what happens to the outcome or figures.
- slant
- Slant is common for presenting a story from one angle, and it sounds more deliberate than skew.
- warp
- Warp implies bending out of shape physically or twisting judgment badly, and it is stronger than the quieter, more statistical skew.
Opposites
Word family
- skewed adjective
- unevenly weighted or biased, as in a skewed sample
- skewness noun
- a statistical measure of how lopsided a distribution is
- unskewed adjective
- not distorted or biased
Commonly confused: skew or skewer? skew or slew?
skew vs skewer
A skewer is a pin for grilling meat or vegetables, and as a verb it means to pierce or sharply criticize. Skew is about bias or a slant.
skew vs slew
Slew means a large number, as in a slew of complaints, or to swing around sharply. It is not about bias, though it looks similar.
Practice
The survey was run only at a gym, which may ___ the results toward people who exercise.
Choose one answer.
Skew means to push results toward one side. Skewer means to pierce with a pin, so it does not fit, and reflect would suggest the results are accurate.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “skew”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.