What does "skew" mean?
Something that has an oblique or slanted position.
Skew
/skjuː/ adj, adv, noun, verb
adj, adv, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Something that has an oblique or slanted position.
- Grammar: skew is listed as adj, adv, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: aberrancy, aberration, affect inference, agee.
- Useful contrasts: parallel, educational balance, nonliving level.
- Usage evidence: In desktop publishing, some software will allow a user to skew a word or phrase in order to slant the letters by 10 or 12 degrees from the vertical, while preserving the baseline.
How to use "skew"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "skew" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "skew" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "skew" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "skew" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "skew" is acting as adj, adv, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "aberrancy" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "skew", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Something that has an oblique or slanted position.
- 2 A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, etc., cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place; a skew-corbel.
"How many yards of roofing and serking, in a Roof 45 feet, 8 in. long, from skew to skew; and 21 feet, 8 in. deep, from ridge to easing, including 9 inches for wall plates or double eave?"
- 3 A thick drizzling rain or driving mist. Cornwall
"I am in a regular Cornish skew as to the future, like that thou and I were favoured with when we astonished the natives at Sidmouth - can't see an inch before me."
- 4 An oblique or sideways movement.
- 5 The coping of a gable. Scotland
"Gable Copings or Skews are of various forms of section, the most common varieties being the parallel sided, Fig. 654; the weathered, or feather-edged, Fig. 655; and the saddle-backed, Fig. 656. [...] The skews at the eaves terminate in what is termed a club-skew or skew-corbel. This admits of an infinite variety of forms, according to the style of the building, but the object is the same in all—namely, to afford a support and abutment to the skew."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 A squint or sidelong glance.
- 7 One of the stones placed over the end of a gable, or forming the coping of a gable. obsolete
"[page xxviii] Here ensuithe an abstracte of the freemasons worke. [...] It'm, the walle new made on the west syde of the watergate [...] a bottres made wᵗ harde asheler of Kent, l. foot, and in Cane asheler a skew vj. foot, [...] [page xxix] It'm, at the Juell Hows door, iij. spaces covered wᵗ skew and crest, amontying xxxvj. fote of stone."
- 8 A kind of wooden vane or cowl in a chimney which revolves according to the direction of the wind and prevents smoking.
- 9 A piece of rock lying in a slanting position and tapering upwards which overhangs a working-place in a mine and is liable to fall.
- 10 A bias or distortion in a particular direction.
"We now come to Whiston village and bridge, (7½ miles) and after passing under a wooden bridge, dash under one of 47 feet span, of stone and brick, with a remarkable skew."
- 11 A phenomenon in synchronous digital circuit systems (such as computers) in which the same sourced clock signal arrives at different components at different times.
"One application for which an optical filter can play an important role is that of a wideband connection with low time skew. [...] One signal, the clock, needs to be distributed to all parts of a digital circuit to synchronize its action. The necessarily long path results in the danger of the clock signal arriving at the wrong time (clock skew), limiting the maximum frequency at which the circuit may be clocked."
- 12 A state of asymmetry in a distribution; skewness.
"Skewness (skew) is the degree to which a distribution's shape departs from symmetry [...]. The greater the departure, the greater the skew. Symmetric distributions have no skew. For instance, the normal distribution is symmetric and is thus not a skewed distribution."
Verb
- 1 To form or shape in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position. transitive
"When making this joint it is important to see that the eccentric or crank is at dead-centre; if it is at the end or limit of its stroke, the rubber is skewed the full length of same; if it is at the centre, the skewing, which is the cause of wear, is halved."
- 2 turn or place at an angle wordnet
- 3 To form or shape in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.; To cause (a distribution) to be asymmetrical. transitive
"We have looked at the obese and anorexic communities, whose conditions fall on a curve skewed towards overweight for determining the social norm of body weight and who face a golden-mean social ideal of body weight."
- 4 To bias or distort in a particular direction. transitive
"A disproportionate number of female subjects in the study group skewed the results."
- 5 To hurl or throw. Northumbria, Yorkshire, transitive
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To move obliquely; to move sideways, to sidle; to lie obliquely. intransitive
"Child, (ſays the Mother) You muſt Uſe your ſelf to Walk Streight, without Skewing, and Shailing ſo Every Step you ſet: Pray Mother (ſays the Young Crab) do but ſet the Example your ſelf, and I'll follow ye."
- 7 To jump back or sideways in fear or surprise; to shy, as a horse. intransitive
"The horses capered. One tore its reins from her hands, burning a trail across her palms. She clung to the other as it pulled against the restraint. Frantically, Brienne moved to its side, pitching the reins over the beast's head, and jammed her foot into the stirrup. The horse skewed, drawing her along on one foot."
- 8 To look at obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously. intransitive
"[C]an this durt draw us / To ſuch a ſtupid tameneſſe, that our ſervice / Neglected, and look'd lamely on, and skewd at / With a few honourable words, and this, is righted?"
Adjective
- 1 Neither parallel nor perpendicular to a certain line; askew. not-comparable, usually
"a skew arch"
- 2 Of two lines in three-dimensional space: neither intersecting nor parallel. not-comparable, usually
"Through the given point there are two lines one of which is parallel to one of the given skew lines, while the other is parallel to the other of the given skew lines. These two "parallels" determine a plane, and the only plane, that is parallel to both the given skew lines."
- 3 Of a distribution: asymmetrical about its mean. comparable, not-comparable, usually
"A slope value over 1 indicates that digits are skewer than the Benford condition in favor of low ones. A slope value less than 1 indicates that digits are less skewed as compared with the Benford condition."
Adjective
- 1 having an oblique or slanting direction or position wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Askew, obliquely; awry. rare
"The walls are all united at one end into one head wall; which runs 14′ skew of the Pyramid on the W.; [...]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"In desktop publishing, some software will allow a user to skew a word or phrase in order to slant the letters by 10 or 12 degrees from the vertical, while preserving the baseline."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "skew"?
Common synonyms include: aberrancy, aberration, affect inference, agee, agee-jawed, angle.
How do you use "skew" in a sentence?
In desktop publishing, some software will allow a user to skew a word or phrase in order to slant the letters by 10 or 12 degrees from the vertical, while preserving the baseline.
How do you pronounce "skew"?
Pronounced /skjuː/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The verb is derived from Middle English skeuen, skewe, skewen (“to run at an angle or obliquely; to escape”), from Old Northern French escuer [and other forms], variants of Old French eschuer, eschever, eschiver (“to escape, flee; to avoid”) (modern French esquiver (“to dodge (a blow), duck; to elude, evade; to slip away; to sidestep”)), from Frankish *skiuhan (“to dread; to avoid, shun”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhijaną (“to frighten”). The English word is cognate with Catalan esquiu (“evasive, shy”), Danish skæv (“crooked, slanting; skew, wry”) (> Norwegian Bokmål skjev), Dutch scheef (“crooked, slanting”), Norwegian skeiv (“crooked, lopsided; oblique, slanting; distorted”), Saterland Frisian skeeuw (“aslant, slanting; oblique; awry”), and is a doublet of eschew. The adjective and adverb are probably derived from the verb and/or from askew, and the noun is derived from either the adjective or the verb.
Etymology 2
From Middle English skeu, skew (“stone with a sloping surface forming the slope of a gable, offset of a buttress, etc.”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman eschu, escuwe, eskeu, or Old Northern French eschieu, eskieu, eskiu, from Old French escu, escut, eschif (“a shield”) (modern French écu), from Latin scūtum (“a shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *skewH- (“to cover, protect”) or *skey- (“to cut, split”).
Etymology 3
Perhaps from a Cornish word, though the closest Cornish word is kuas/cwas, which would require much phonological modification; thus, perhaps instead simply from the skewed angle wind may drive such rain to fall in.