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Meaning & use

skewedness

noun·Advancedtechnical

Last updated

UK/ˈskjuːdnəs/
US/ˈskjuːdnəs/

Meanings

  1. noununcountablemathematicstechnical

    The degree to which a set of data is lopsided, with a longer tail on one side of the average than the other.

    Grammar: Used without an or an: the skewedness of the data is high.

    Patterns

    • the skewedness of something
    • skewedness in something

    The skewedness of the income data shows a few very high earners.

    Plot a histogram first to check the skewedness of your sample.

    A negative skewedness means the left tail of the graph is longer.

  2. noununcountableformal

    The state of being biased, unbalanced or twisted away from what is fair or correct.

    Grammar: Used about opinions, reports or results: the skewedness of the coverage.

    Patterns

    • the skewedness of something

    Readers noticed the skewedness of the news report, which gave only one side.

    The skewedness in the survey came from asking only city residents.

    Editors tried to reduce the skewedness of the results by widening the sample.

Common combinations

measure skewedness
The program can measure skewedness in each column.
positive skewedness
House prices often show positive skewedness.
reduce skewedness
Taking the logarithm helps reduce skewedness.
the skewedness of the distribution
We examined the skewedness of the distribution before running the test.
noticeable skewedness
The graph has noticeable skewedness toward the left.

Synonyms and how they differ

skewness
It is the standard statistical term and is far more common than skewedness.
asymmetry
It means any lack of balance, not necessarily in a data set.
bias
It stresses unfair leaning in a result, while skewedness may just be a shape in the numbers.
lopsidedness
It is a plain word for being uneven and would not be used in a statistics paper.

Opposites

symmetrybalance

Word family

skew verb
to distort or turn aside
skewed adjective
lopsided or biased
skewness noun
the standard statistical measure of lopsidedness
skew noun
a bend or slant
unskewed adjective
not distorted

Commonly confused: skewedness or skewers?

skewedness vs skewers

Skewers are metal or wooden sticks for cooking food. The word is unrelated to data.

Practice

A data set with a long tail to the right and most values clustered on the left shows positive ____.

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