skewing: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
LowFormal to neutral, more common in technical, academic, and business contexts.
Quick answer
What does “skewing” mean?
the present participle of 'skew': causing something to be not straight, accurate, or symmetrical.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
the present participle of 'skew': causing something to be not straight, accurate, or symmetrical; distorting or biasing.
The act of making something inaccurate or asymmetrical by introducing a systematic error, bias, or deviation from a true or intended direction, often used metaphorically for statistics, perspectives, or distributions.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Minimal. Both use it identically in technical and figurative senses. Spelling differences follow national conventions (e.g., centred/centered) in example sentences.
Connotations
Identical connotations of bias or distortion.
Frequency
Slightly higher frequency in American English technical/business writing, but overall a low-frequency word in both varieties.
Grammar
How to Use “skewing” in a Sentence
skewing something (towards/against/in favour of something)be skewed by somethingVocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “skewing” in a Sentence
verb
British English
- The journalist was accused of skewing the facts to favour his argument.
- Poor sampling methods are skewing the survey results.
American English
- The lobbyist is skewing the data toward his client's position.
- Faulty equipment skewed the laboratory measurements.
adverb
British English
- N/A - 'Skewing' is not used as an adverb.
American English
- N/A - 'Skewing' is not used as an adverb.
adjective
British English
- N/A - 'Skewing' is not used as a standalone adjective. The adjective is 'skewed'.
American English
- N/A - 'Skewing' is not used as a standalone adjective. The adjective is 'skewed'.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Concerns about the new marketing metrics skewing our understanding of customer demographics.
Academic
The researcher acknowledged a potential confounding variable skewing the experimental results.
Everyday
The bad lighting in the photo is skewing the colours, making everything look yellow.
Technical
An error in the sensor calibration is skewing the dataset towards higher values.
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “skewing”
- Using 'skewing' for a simple mistake rather than a systematic bias (e.g., 'He was skewing the answer' instead of 'He got the answer wrong').
- Incorrect preposition: 'skewing on' instead of 'skewing towards'.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No, it is a low-frequency word. It is most common in formal, academic, technical, or business writing discussing bias, statistics, or distortion.
Rarely. It almost always has a negative connotation of creating an unfair, inaccurate, or unbalanced result. A neutral use might be in pure mathematics describing a distribution.
'Changing' is neutral. 'Skewing' specifically means changing something by introducing a directional bias or systematic distortion, often away from truth or fairness.
The correct spelling is always 'skewing'. 'Skueing' is incorrect.
the present participle of 'skew': causing something to be not straight, accurate, or symmetrical.
Skewing is usually formal to neutral, more common in technical, academic, and business contexts. in register.
Skewing: in British English it is pronounced /ˈskjuːɪŋ/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈskjuːɪŋ/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “No common idioms use 'skewing'.”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Imagine a SKEWer (like for kebabs) pushed through something at an angle, not straight. 'Skewing' is putting something on a slant or bias.
Conceptual Metaphor
TRUTH/ACCURACY IS STRAIGHTNESS. 'Skewing' is a force that bends or angles this straight line.
Practice
Quiz
In which context is 'skewing' used most appropriately?