skew

[ skyoo ]

verb (used with object)

1. to give an oblique direction to; shape, form, or cut obliquely:

   In a crochet project, a slip stitch can skew the edge a bit if you use it to finish the final round.

2. to make conform to a specific concept, attitude, or planned result; slant:

   The television show is skewed to the young teenager.

3. to distort; depict unfairly:

   When other researchers looked into the report, they found misrepresentation of data that skewed the evidence.

4. Statistics. to cause (a distribution) to have a disproportionate number of data points above or below the mean:

   The income categories for transit commuters were skewed toward higher incomes because the survey was only distributed through a phone app.

verb (used without object)

1. to turn aside or swerve; take an oblique course:

   The car skewed sharply to the right when it hit the patch of ice.

2. to display a tendency in a particular direction:

   My reading skews toward nonfiction, which I suppose isn't that surprising for a historian.

3. to be distorted or unfairly depicted:

   The narrative presented by the country's leading newspapers skews toward an account that fits the needs of the state.

4. to look obliquely; squint.

noun

1. a tendency in a particular direction:

   Officials involved in budget-related discussions said that there was a skew towards social sector spending.

2. an oblique movement, direction, or position.
3. Also called skew chisel. a wood chisel having a cutting edge set obliquely.

adjective

1. having an oblique direction or position; slanting; sideways:

   The picture is square, but the angles of the trees give it a skew look.

2. having a part that deviates from a straight line, right angle, etc.:

   skew gearing.

3. Mathematics. (of a dyad or dyadic) equal to the negative of its conjugate.
4. (of an arch, bridge, etc.) having the centerline of its opening forming an oblique angle with the direction in which its spanning structure is built.
5. Statistics. (of a distribution) not symmetrical; having skewness.

skew

/ skjuː /

adjective

1. placed in or turning into an oblique position or course
2. machinery having a component that is at an angle to the main axis of an assembly or is in some other way asymmetrical

   a skew bevel gear

3. maths
   1. composed of or being elements that are neither parallel nor intersecting as, for example, two lines not lying in the same plane in a three-dimensional space
   2. (of a curve) not lying in a plane
4. (of a statistical distribution) not having equal probabilities above and below the mean; non-normal
5. distorted or biased

noun

1. an oblique, slanting, or indirect course or position
2. psychol the system of relationships in a family in which one parent is extremely dominating while the other parent tends to be meekly compliant

verb

1. to take or cause to take an oblique course or direction
2. intr to look sideways; squint
3. tr to place at an angle
4. tr to distort or bias

skew

/ skyo̅o̅ /

1. A transformation of coordinates in which one coordinate is displaced in one direction in proportion to its distance from a coordinate plane or axis. A rectangle, for example, that undergoes skew is transformed into a parallelogram.
2. Also called shear

Word History and Origins

Origin of skew¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; (for the verb) Middle English skewen “to slip away, swerve,” from Middle Dutch schuwen “to get out of the way, shun,” derivative of schu ( Dutch schuw ) shy ¹; adjective derivative of the verb, probably by analogy with askew; noun derivative of the verb and adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of skew¹

C14: from Old Norman French escuer to shun, of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch schuwen to avoid

Example Sentences

And while experiments with animals in labs can be tightly controlled, the results may be skewed since the animal is not interacting within its natural environment.

From Science Daily

Around the same time Westside was looking for new produced shows, she recalls seeing plenty of comedy dating shows around the local scene, but they skewed young and tended to punch down.

From Los Angeles Times

In this case, he benefited from decades of skewed pro-Republican economic reporting.

From Salon

Trump and other Republicans spread misinformation about noncitizens illegally voting in federal elections to skew results in favor of Democrats — despite laws and decades of studies that dispute claims of voter fraud.

From Los Angeles Times

However, DiCamillo noted those results could be skewed by the historical preference of Republicans to vote in person.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• alter
• bias
• misrepresent
• slant