skew

verb \ ˈskyü \

Updated on: 23 May 2018

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

skewed data

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Examples of skew in a Sentence

They were accused of skewing the facts to fit their theory.
He accused them of skewing the rules in their favor.

Recent Examples of skew from the Web

Wayne Routledge latched onto a through ball but skewed his shot off target.

— SI.com, "Swansea Relegation Confirmed as Stoke City Bows Out With Win," 13 May 2018
What: Justin Piazza made his name with Neapolitan pizza, but his latest project skews a bit to the north.

— dominic armato, azcentral, "Most anticipated restaurant openings in 2018 in Phoenix: Roman pizza to Korean BBQ to Nashville hot chicken," 9 May 2018
On that note, one of the interesting details in the new paper is something called a funnel plot, which offers a method of assessing whether a group of studies is skewed by factors like publication bias.

— alex hutchinson, Outside Online, "The Ultimate (Evidence-Based) Guide to Recovery," 9 May 2018
Ground overruns figure and space grows indeterminate, and within the mists bodies skew and bend, feet appear in the wrong places.

— cate mcquaid, BostonGlobe.com, "At the Rose, taking tenderness to unexpected places," 25 Apr. 2018
Since taking office in 2015 the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has stacked the courts, skewed public media and stuffed the bureaucracy with supporters (see article).

— The Economist, "The EU should get tough on its illiberal democracies," 19 Apr. 2018
Statistics were skewed by a couple of touchdown passes to former Gators who appeared from the sidelines — uncovered, of course — just in time to make scoring grabs.

— ethan bauer, miamiherald, "Dan Mullen wants Florida football to be fun again. He showed that Saturday | Miami Herald," 14 Apr. 2018
Today's trending heritage buys may skew more athletic than rugged and utilitarian, but there will always be a place for workwear in your wardrobe.

— megan gustashaw, GQ, "14 Workwear Buys for Right Now, All $200 and Under," 3 Apr. 2018
In the tech industry in particular, where the age of workers tends skew younger, the impact could be stark.

— eric d. lawrence, Detroit Free Press, "Thousands of older workers each year say age discrimination is real," 2 Apr. 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.

Origin and Etymology of skew

Middle English, to escape, run obliquely, from Anglo-French *eskiuer, eschiver to escape, avoid — more at eschew

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

skew

adjective

1 : set, placed, or running obliquely : slanting

2 : more developed on one side or in one direction than another : not symmetrical

First Known Use of skew

1609

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

skew

noun

: a deviation from a straight line : slant

Recent Examples of skew from the Web

Smith, who at 39 skews young for a Crusher fan, doesn't want the icon to be forgotten.

— jim stingl, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Stingl: How 'bout dat, a statue of The Crusher in the wrestler's beloved South Milwaukee," 2 Feb. 2018
The Howard Hawks classic skews toward romantic comedy, with a newspaper editor (Cary Grant) using any and all means to keep his ex-wife and star reporter (Rosalind Russell) from remarrying.

— brian truitt, USA TODAY, "The 10 best journalism movies (including Steven Spielberg's 'The Post'), ranked," 11 Jan. 2018
In a place where the roads are otherwise perfectly straight, why are there random skews in the roads?

— avery thompson, Popular Mechanics, "There's a Cool Reason for Those Weird Jogs in Straight Roads," 4 Jan. 2018
Roster and scheme were the biggest considerations, and there’s an undeniable skew toward the top of the polls, but everything from stadium atmosphere to uniform combinations to, of course, a dash of subjectivity factored into this exercise.

— chris johnson, SI.com, "College Football League Pass Rankings: The Nation's 10 Most Watchable Teams," 27 Sep. 2017
Many large investors believe the incentives—rebates of trading fees handed back to brokers—skew where their orders are routed.

— dave michaels, WSJ, "SEC Names J.P. Morgan Executive as Top Regulator of Exchanges," 18 Oct. 2017
Our research does not indicate a gender skew to any of these attributes.

— cynthia soledad, Fortune, "Why Are Women Still Set Up to Fail in the C-Suite?," 28 Sep. 2017
That means coverage skews in favor of lawyers for the subjects, who obviously have a motive to minimize the prosecution’s proof.

— andrew c. mccarthy, National Review, "Mueller’s Grand Jury: What It Means," 3 Aug. 2017
The skew in NIH funding that the researchers found is not surprising—NIH has noted the inequality in its own analyses.

— maggie kuo, Science | AAAS, "Relatively few NIH grantees get lion’s share of agency’s funding," 18 July 2017

First Known Use of skew

1688

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

SKEW Defined for English Language Learners

skew

verb

: 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

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See words that rhyme with skew Nglish: Translation of skew for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of skew for Arabic speakers

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