Biases

How to spell biases

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce biases

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does biases mean?

1. nounInclinations or prejudices for or against something, especially ones that influence judgement unfairly.
2. verbCauses someone or something to lean unfairly toward a particular view or outcome.

Biases in a sentence

• noun

  The audit exposed several hidden biases in the firm's hiring process.

• verb

  The leading wording of that question clearly biases the survey responses.

• noun

  Our personal biases often shape everyday choices without us noticing.

• verb

  A tiny, unrepresentative sample often biases the conclusions of a study.

Where does biases come from?

Language of origin: French

The base word bias came into English in the 1500s from the French biais, meaning a slant, a slope, or something set at an oblique angle. The French term itself probably descends from a Late Latin or Old Provencal word for a sideways direction, and some trace it ultimately to the Greek epikarsios, meaning crosswise or oblique. The word first gained ground in the game of bowls, where a bias was the weighted curve built into a bowl that made it veer to one side rather than roll straight; from that very physical idea of a built-in lean came the figurative modern sense of a leaning of the mind, a prejudice that tips judgement off the straight line. The plural and verb form biases simply adds -es to the single-s base, and the chief spelling trap is exactly that: writers are tempted to double the s into biasses, but the correct form keeps one s.

How the word is built

• bias (a slant or leaning)
• -es (plural noun / third-person verb inflection)