skew

verb

\ ˈskyü

skewed; skewing; skews

Definition of skew

(Entry 1 of 3)

intransitive verb

1 : to take an oblique course

2 : to look askance

transitive verb

1 : to make, set, or cut on the skew

2 : to distort especially from a true value or symmetrical form

skew

adjective

Definition 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

noun

Definition 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

For almost all of human history, the Earth’s population has skewed younger. — Kelsey Nowakowski, National Geographic, "There are now more people over age 65 than under five—what that means," 11 July 2019 By including the question on the census, Ross may be trying to skew figures in favor of Republicans and to withhold funds from Democratic strongholds with high immigrant populations. — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, "What’s driving Trump’s war with the Supreme Court on the census citizenship question," 10 July 2019 To many, instant intentional walks, constant shifts and talk about robot umpires has skewed the game enough. — SFChronicle.com, "Astros’ Justin Verlander tells ESPN that baseballs are juiced, ‘100 percent’," 8 July 2019 That’s largely a function of geography, not gerrymandering, but the end result is the same: Unfair maps, skewed representation, and hundreds of thousands of voters without a voice of their own in Congress. — Steve Mulroy, The New Republic, "To Beat the Gerrymander, Think Outside the Lines," 8 July 2019 The talents at pageants usually skew towards your traditional singing and dancing, but Schrier found a new way to literally blow away the competition. — Aj Willingham, CNN, "A touching flag tribute, an engagement pic mystery and some cool turtle stuff," 6 July 2019 Winter visitors from China skew much younger, with an average age of 28 versus 50 or older for summer visitors, according to Chen. — Anchorage Daily News, "“Beautiful impression”: Chinese tourism to Alaska is growing fast," 5 July 2019 The data could be skewed because some wealthier Americans haven’t filed their taxes yet. — NBC News, "Who got the biggest tax refunds this year? Higher earners.," 2 July 2019 One student in particular skewed the average age upward. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Grad fulfills educational goal first set in high school and earns his master’s degree at 79," 30 June 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The new skew Like Xinjiang Taste is open in Hacienda Heights. — Hadley Tomicki, latimes.com, "Go Get Em Tiger’s new DTLA location serves up burgers; Marugame Udon opens at the Bloc," 2 July 2019 The skew toward bats reflected how the Giants viewed the strength of this draft class and organizational need. — Henry Schulman, SFChronicle.com, "How the Giants’ first draft under Farhan Zaidi, Michael Holmes played out," 10 June 2019 There is also, naturally, a partisan skew in views of the best president. — Breanna Edwards, Essence, "Obama Is The Best President Of Americans' Lifetimes: Poll," 4 June 2019 But if one person in your household tends to take on more than their fair share of the admin—and if that imbalance is causing tension or unhappiness—there are other ways to undo the skew. — Elizabeth Emens, WSJ, "The Stickiness of ‘Life Admin’," 30 Dec. 2018 An influx of high-energy particles into the skewed field lines then releases the build-up of magnetic pressure, thereby righting the skew. — Jill Kiedaisch, Popular Mechanics, "When the Sun’s Magnetic Field Squashes the Earth’s Magnetic Field, Beautiful Things Happen," 14 Feb. 2019 An options measure called skew, which measures the cost of bearish options relative to bullish ones, on the S&P 500 remains historically low, according to Credit Suisse, indicating there isn’t a broad rush by investors to buy stock protection. — Gunjan Banerji, WSJ, "Fear Gauge Warns That This Selloff Is Different," 10 Dec. 2018 The market skew to China causes other problems, too. — Carol Ryan, WSJ, "Luxury-Goods Industry Has a China Problem," 1 Jan. 2019 As Cohn wrote, a 70-30 skew is still a big loss for Democrats. — German Lopez, Vox, "North Dakota’s new voting restrictions seem aimed at Native Americans who vote Democrat," 31 Oct. 2018

These 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.