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\ ˈskyü 
\
\skewed; skewing; skews
Definition of skew
(Entry 1 of 3)
1 : to make, set, or cut on the skew
2 : to distort especially from a true value or symmetrical form
skew
adjectiveDefinition of skew (Entry 2 of 3)
1 : set, placed, or running obliquely : slanting
2 : more developed on one side or in one direction than another : not symmetrical
skew
nounDefinition of skew (Entry 3 of 3)
: a deviation from a straight line : slant
Examples of skew in a Sentence
Verb
They were accused of skewing the facts to fit their theory.
He accused them of skewing the rules in their favor.
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The numbers skew a playing field that wasn't level before the pandemic.
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Katie Hunt, CNN, "How female scientists are losing out during the pandemic and why it matters," 18 June 2020 Moreover, Trump's rallies tend to skew older, Rooney said.
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Katherine Doyle, Washington Examiner, "'Testing his Fifth Avenue theory': Democrats charge Trump rally could harm his supporters," 13 June 2020 According to the most recent census figures, 59% of Portlanders drive alone to work but the numbers skew higher in suburban counties.
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oregonlive, "Metro signals support for payroll tax, $56 vehicle registration fee, to fund $7 billion transportation package," 10 June 2020 But because sicker people are also more likely to die, that could skew the results.
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Adam Rogers, Wired, "Major Hydroxychloroquine Trial Shows No Prevention Benefits," 3 June 2020 There are more than 6 million no-party-preference voters in the state, a figure that skews younger, suggesting that many California voters don’t align with either party.
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Jennifer Medina, New York Times, "Is California a Winner-Take-All Primary?," 11 Mar. 2020 This is highly unusual, considering the shows' choices to skew younger.
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Katherine J Igoe, Marie Claire, "Who Wins 'The Bachelorette'? (Spoilers)," 1 Mar. 2020 Chatbots have been skewing social-media discussions for years.
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Bruce Schneier, The Atlantic, "The Future of Politics Is Robots Shouting at One Another," 7 Jan. 2020 Kravitz, 55, reflected an attempt to skew a bit younger, Kelton said.
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Washington Post, "Party like a spy: Spookstock is intel world’s hush-hush bash," 29 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective In the case of Chico's, the approach works, Kohan said, because that retailer's customers are loyal, skew older, and have typically dealt with the same sales person for years.
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Phil Wahba, Fortune, "Shopping by appointment is the next big thing for retailers, but it’s no panacea," 5 June 2020 Several of the other premium features skew toward Intel, too, including 300Hz and 4K screens, and Thunderbolt 3.
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Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld, "The HP Omen gaming laptop offers AMD and Intel flavors for $1,000 and up," 2 June 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun This creates a bias in the overall Covid-19 data that has ramifications for everyone, as this skew in the Covid-19 national estimates can misguide response efforts.
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Bonnielin Swenor, STAT, "Dearth of disability-related Covid-19 data can confound response efforts," 12 June 2020 Such programs aim to avoid genetic skew, which could pass down harmful mutations to offspring.
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Molly Glick, Popular Science, "Did a high sex drive really save the giant tortoise from extinction?," 4 Feb. 2020 The shares rose 1% with Peel Hunt saying the update is encouraging and noting the company’s revenue skew has shifted away from newsstands and events towards online.
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Sam Unsted, Bloomberg.com, "Vivendi Music Offsets Ads, Philips Orders Bounce: Earnings Wrap," 28 Apr. 2020 Auto adjust functions apply smart-cropping, de-skew, and automatic contrast adjustments.
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Popular Science, "Portable scanners that make the world your office," 9 Apr. 2020 One upside for the Latino population is its youthful skew.
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Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times, "Coronavirus death rate among Latinos appears low, but experts say the data are thin," 8 Apr. 2020 Streaming is increasingly the news option of choice for young consumers, while cable news network viewership skews old.
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Washington Post, "ABC News to bolster streaming service with live programming," 23 Jan. 2020 In November, the Athena Club brand is expanding to include more skews.
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Ashley Edwards Walker, Marie Claire, "These 25-Year-Olds Are Forging the Future," 29 Oct. 2019 The partisan skew appeared in their experiment, the authors stress, even though all ads were run from the same account and at the same time.
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Washington Post, "Facebook’s ad delivery system drives partisanship, even if campaigns don’t want it, new research shows," 10 Dec. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'skew.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for skew
skew
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of skew
: to change (something) so that it is not true or accurate
: to make (something) favor a particular group of people in a way that is unfair
See the full definition for skew in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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Time Traveler for skew
The first known use of skew was in the 15th century
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