The Meaning of Bias: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know your biases? If you don’t know what the word bias means, you might have trouble identifying and beating bias in your everyday life. Read on to learn what bias means, its synonyms, and its antonyms.

What Does the Word Bias Mean?

According to Dictionary, the word bias has a few different meanings. First, this word can be used as a noun. As a noun, the word bias refers to a tendency, feeling, or opinion that is preconceived — often negatively and without reason. This hostility or prejudice can be toward a certain social group, racial group, and more.

The word bias can also be used as a noun, adjective, or adverb to refer to a diagonal cut or fold, made across a woven fabric. This would usually be referred to as doing something “on the bias.” In short, on the bias means diagonally.

The word bias is two syllables (bi-as), and the pronunciation of bias is ˈbaɪəs.

What Are Translations of the Word Bias?

Many different languages around the world contain their own way of saying the word bias. If you are going to be traveling to a foreign country, talking with a person who does not speak English, or studying a foreign language, you can use this list of translations of bias to communicate.

If you look closely at this list, you may notice that some of the words in different languages resemble one another in look and sound. This often happens when two words have the same root word or language of origin. These are called cognates, and are often seen in linguistics and language studies. 

Be careful of false cognates, which are words in different languages that sound the same but mean something very different.

• Armenian: կողմնակալություն‎, կողմնապահություն‎
• German: Voreingenommenheit‎ (fem.)
• Czech: zaujetí‎ (neut.), předpojatost‎ (fem.)
• Maori: ngākaukino‎
• Italian: pregiudizio‎ (masc.), predisposizione‎ (fem.), inclinazione‎ (fem.), tendenza‎ (fem.), predilezione‎, preferenza‎ (fem.)
• Norwegian: fordom‎, partiskhet‎
• Catalan: biaix‎ (masc.)
• Hungarian: elfogultság‎, részrehajlás‎
• Swedish: partiskhet‎ (common)
• Portuguese: viés‎ (masc.), distorção‎ (fem.), tendência‎ (fem.), tendenciosidade‎ (fem.)
• Greek: προκατάληψη‎ (fem.)
• Danish: partiskhed‎ (common), slagside‎ (common), forudindtagethed‎ (common)
• Dutch: neiging‎, vooroordeel‎ (neut.), vooringenomenheid‎ (fem.)
• Cantonese: 偏見‎
• Arabic: تَحَيُّز‎ (masc.)
• Russian: предубежде́ние‎
• Spanish: inclinación‎ (fem.), predisposición‎ (fem.), parcialidad‎ (fem.), prejuicio‎ (fem.), sesgo‎, preferencia‎ (fem.), predilección‎ (fem.), tendencia‎ (fem.)
• Tagalog: ayo‎

What Is the Etymology of the Word Bias?

Dictionary states that the word bias comes from the Old French biais which is based on an Old Provençal word. It is likely that this is ultimately based on the Greek epikarsios meaning oblique.

How Can the Word Bias Be Used in a Sentence?

The word bias is versatile and can be used in a variety of sentences. When you are learning a new word, it is important to learn its definition and know how to use it in a sentence. If you know a definition but do not know how to use the word, it is not very useful at all.

To learn how to use the word bias in a sentence, look at the below example sentences. Study how the word bias is used in these sentences. Then, try to come up with an example sentence of your own or use this word in daily life.

She made a slanting cut on the bias so that the fabric would fit perfectly around the bowl.

Psychologists called it implicit bias, but the world called it blatant racism, sexism, and homophobia. He did not treat his colleagues with equity and favored white people over Black people.

She made a bias cut on an oblique line for the garment’s darting.

The systematic bias had been present in the company’s decision-making for years, which showed in their racial statistics and behaviors. They lacked diversity and had an abundance of discrimination. Their biases — whether unconscious or conscious — led to a lack of diverse clients.

The inclusion specialist taught the company not to be biased against those of a differing gender or sexual orientation.

What Are Synonyms of the Word Bias?

Many words have the same meaning as the word bias. These are called synonyms, and this list of synonyms of the word bias is from Power Thesaurus. 

You can use a synonym to replace a word you have used more than once to vary your speech and writing. You can also use a synonym to change the connotation of a word. The word bias has a fairly negative connotation. You can find a word with a positive connotation instead by using a synonym.

• affect
• bent
• bigotry
• diagonal
• discrimination
• disposition
• distort
• favor
• favoritism
• inclination
• incline
• inequality
• influence
• intolerance
• leaning
• mindset
• one-sidedness
• partiality
• partisanship
• penchant
• preconception
• predilection
• predispose
• predisposition
• preference
• prejudice
• proclivity
• proneness
• propensity
• skew
• slant
• sway
• tendency
• trend
• twist
• unfairness
• warp

What Are Antonyms of the Word Bias?

Just like some words have the same definition as the word bias, some words have the opposite definition. These are called antonyms. Power Thesaurus also provides a long list of antonyms for the word bias as well. How many of these words do you know?

• antipathy
• balance
• be fair
• be impartial
• be just
• detachment
• detestation
• disgust
• disinterest
• disinterestedness
• dislike
• dispassion
• dispassionateness
• disrelish
• equal opportunities
• equal opportunity
• equal rights
• equal treatment
• equity
• fair treatment
• fairness
• hatred
• impartiality
• indifference
• justice
• justness
• loathing
• neutrality
• nonpartisanship
• objectiveness
• objectivity
• open-mindedness
• Tolerance

Conclusion

Overall, the word bias refers to an implicit social cognition, irrational preference, or tendency that can spread stereotypes and negativity toward people. It can also refer to a diagonal line, often on fabric. The word bias often has a negative connotation.

Sources:

1. Bias Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com 
2. Bias synonyms – 2 029 Words and Phrases for Bias | Power Thesaurus 
3. Bias antonyms – 571 Opposites of Bias | Power Thesaurus