/ ˈbaɪəs; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ U , C , usually sing. ] a strong feeling in favour of or against one group of people, or one side in an argument, often not based on fair judgement :
accusations of political bias in news programmes (= that reports are unfair and show favour to one political party)
Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias.
Some institutions still have a strong bias against women.
2.
[ C , usually sing. ] an interest in one thing more than others; a special ability :
The course has a strong practical bias.
3.
[ U , sing. ] the bias of a piece of cloth is an edge cut diagonally across the threads :
The skirt is cut on the bias.
■ verb
( -s- or -ss- ) [ vn ] bias sb/sth (towards / against / in favour of sb/sth) to unfairly influence sb's opinions or decisions
SYN prejudice :
The newspapers have biased people against her.
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent. (in the sense oblique line ; also as an adjective meaning oblique ): from French biais , from Provençal , perhaps based on Greek epikarsios oblique.