What does unbiased mean?
Word: Unbiased
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Unbiased means judging things on the facts alone, without being swayed by your own opinions or wishes.
How do you spell unbiased?
Syllables: un - bi - ased
Tricky part: After the b come i and then a: unbaised and unbeased are the usual slips. Oxford gives biassed as another spelling of biased, but lists unbiased with one s.
Watch out for: unbaised, unbeased
Memory tip: Think of an umpire beginning a sentence with 'I am...': the I comes first and the a follows, the same order as the vowels after the b.
Unbiased in a sentence
Example 1: We need an unbiased judge for the debate competition.
Example 2: A good scientist tries to stay unbiased while testing an idea.
Example 3: The survey asked unbiased questions so that people could answer freely.
Fun Fact
Scientists test new medicines in 'double-blind' trials, in which neither the patients nor the doctors know who is getting the real medicine, to keep the results unbiased.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Only one of these words becomes its opposite when un is added. Choose it.
un
a) neutral
b) honest
c) partial
d) biased
Show answer
d) biased. Adding un to biased gives the word on this page; honest takes dis, partial takes im, and neutral takes no prefix at all.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word unbiased as used in the sentence:
The reporter tried to give an unbiased account of the debate between the two schools.
a) prejudiced
b) fair
c) even-handed
d) impartial
Show answer
a) prejudiced. A prejudiced account favours one side, the opposite of an unbiased one; impartial, fair and even-handed all mean much the same as unbiased.
Spell-o-Spell
One of these words is misspelt. Choose what it means.
1. referee 2. verdict 3. jugement 4. unbiased
a) a person who makes sure a game follows the rules
b) the ability to make sensible decisions
c) a decision given after careful thought
d) not favouring either side
Show answer
b) the ability to make sensible decisions. Judgement has a d before the g; unbiased, referee and verdict are spelt correctly.
Mingle-Mangle
Which word do the jumbled letters in the sentence spell?
Grandpa reads two newspapers to get a balanced, ianbesdu picture of the news.
a) unabashed
b) unaided
c) unbeaten
d) unbiased
Show answer
d) unbiased. Unaided has no b or s, unabashed needs an h and a second a, and unbeaten a t; only unbiased fits.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A judge at a painting contest is unbiased if she ____.
a) gives first prize to her niece
b) ignores paintings she dislikes
c) decides the winner before she looks
d) scores every painting by the same rules
Show answer
d) scores every painting by the same rules
2. Whose view of a cricket match can be trusted to be unbiased?
a) a commentator who backs neither team
b) a home-team fan in full team colours
c) the captain of the home team
d) the coach of the visiting team
Show answer
a) a commentator who backs neither team
