bias 1 of 3

1
2

bias

2 of 3

adverb

bias

3 of 3

verb

as in to turn
to cause to have often negative opinions formed without sufficient knowledge bad reviews biased her against the movie, even though it starred one of her favorite actors

Synonyms & Similar Words

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun bias contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of bias are predilection, prejudice, and prepossession. While all these words mean "an attitude of mind that predisposes one to favor something," bias implies an unreasoned and unfair distortion of judgment in favor of or against a person or thing.

a strong bias toward the plaintiff

Where would predilection be a reasonable alternative to bias?

While in some cases nearly identical to bias, predilection implies a strong liking deriving from one's temperament or experience.

a predilection for travel

When can prejudice be used instead of bias?

The synonyms prejudice and bias are sometimes interchangeable, but prejudice usually implies an unfavorable prepossession and connotes a feeling rooted in suspicion, fear, or intolerance.

a mindless prejudice against the unfamiliar

When is it sensible to use prepossession instead of bias?

While the synonyms prepossession and bias are close in meaning, prepossession suggests a fixed conception likely to preclude objective judgment of anything counter to it.

a prepossession against technology

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bias
Noun
There was also the potential for biases due to incomplete reporting of details. Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 13 Oct. 2025 Automation bias can lead to critical errors of commission (acting on flawed advice) and omission (failing to act when a system misses something), particularly in high-stakes environments. Nelson Lim, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
Kennedy has claimed the former ACIP members were biased and had conflicts of interest. Jaimie Seaton, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2025 Unfortunately, Africa is at a disadvantage in that the data sets that these large language models are trained on are limited and biased in the first place. Moky Makura, semafor.com, 15 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for bias
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bias
Noun
  • That’s the bias, that’s the prejudice.
    Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Amidst the outbreak of the 1910 Manchurian Plague, a young Chinese doctor must defy prejudices of both the East and the West to champion his groundbreaking theory of the disease and seek the truth that will heal it.
    Zac Ntim, Deadline, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • King said he was inspired in part by Rader’s arrest, more specifically, by his ability to keep his murderous tendencies completely unknown to the rest of his family.
    CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2025
  • The Patriots defensive staff sifts through all kinds of data while scripting a game plan, from traditional player scouting reports, scheme tendencies, statistical analyses and film findings of their own.
    Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Adverb
  • Now draw an imaginary line diagonally through the Dipper's bowl from Dubhe (the upper right star in the bowl) down through Phecda (the lower left star in the bowl) and extend that line downward about twice the distance between those two stars and that will bring you to the vicinity of Cor Caroli.
    Joe Rao, Space.com, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Fold squares in half diagonally over filling to create triangles.
    Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 2 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • As the credits appeared on TV, Breakker hit Rollins with a spear, turning his back on his former stablemate of The Vision.
    Fernando Quiles Jr, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Oct. 2025
  • The actor, who turned 98 on March 31, spoke to PEOPLE earlier this year.
    Virginia Chamlee, PEOPLE, 15 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Despite its partiality to a president’s power over independent federal agencies, the court has repeatedly suggested that the Fed is an exception.
    Jackie Calmes, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025
  • But, actually, partiality is one of the reasons that scenarios are valuable.
    Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 27 May 2025
Noun
  • As Tuchel attested, England’s inclination to regain possession was as impressive as their work on the ball.
    Mark Carey, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
  • But Iapetus’s inclination and equatorial ridge — which is more continuous on the Saturn-facing side — remain mysterious.
    Big Think, Big Think, 9 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Also, Americans report less trust in institutions and experts, and studies have found growing partisanship around vaccines.
    David Higgins, The Conversation, 7 Oct. 2025
  • George Washington warned that the primary danger in politics is partisanship.
    Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The same chip technology could also be used for compact spectrometers, quantum devices, optical clocks, and next-generation LiDAR systems.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The chip is expected to feature in laptops and handheld devices later this year and early 2026.
    Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bias.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bias. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on bias

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!