tendentious

T1E1N1D2E1N1T1I1O1U1S1
/tɛnˈdɛnʃəs/

adjective

Having a tendency, written or spoken, with a partisan, biased or prejudiced purpose, especially a controversial one; implicitly or explicitly slanted; biased.

“Near-synonyms: partisan, slanted, partial, prejudiced”

UncommonScrabble 12

Meanings

adjectivetendentious (comparative more tendentious, superlative most tendentious)

comparative more tendentious · superlative most tendentious

  1. Having a tendency, written or spoken, with a partisan, biased or prejudiced purpose, especially a controversial one; implicitly or explicitly slanted; biased.

    Near-synonyms: partisan, slanted, partial, prejudiced

    3 more examples

    That he was a supporter of the cause was clear, because his reports from the front were tendentious.

    President-elect Donald Trump abruptly abandoned some of his most tendentious campaign promises Tuesday, saying he does not plan to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email system or the dealings of her family foundation, has an “open mind” about a climate-change accord from which he vowed to withdraw the United States and is no longer certain that torturing terrorism suspects is a good idea.

    2016 November 23, Karen Tumulty, “Trump backs away from some of his strident campaign promises”, in The Washington Post

    It is a canard trotted out by lazy or tendentious journalists that nationalised British Railways lacked entrepreneurial flair.

    2021 November 17, Anthony Lambert, “How do we grow the leisure market?”, in RAIL, number 944, page 37

    Synonyms: partisan, slanted, partial, prejudiced · Antonyms: objective, impartial, unbiased, fair, balanced

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveHaving a tendency, written or spoken, with a partisan, biased or prejudiced purpose, especially a controversial one; implicitly or explicitly slanted; biased.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivehaving or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ten-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tend-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*téndeti
  4. Proto-Italic*tendō
  5. Latintendō
  6. Latintendēns
  7. Medieval Latintendentia
  8. Englishtendency
  9. Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
  11. Englishtendentious

From tendency + -ious, after German tendenziös.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans tendensieus
  • tendensieustendentious
Arabic مُغْرِض
  • مُغْرِض (muḡriḍ)tendentious
Bulgarian тенденцио́зен, пристрастен
  • тенденцио́зен (tendenciózen)tendentious
  • пристрастен (pristrasten)tendentious
Catalan tendenciós
  • tendencióstendentious
Chinese Mandarin 偏頗的 /偏颇的, 有偏見的 /有偏见的
  • 偏頗的 /偏颇的tendentious
  • 有偏見的 /有偏见的tendentious
  • 傾向性的 /倾向性的tendentious
Danish tendentiøs, tendensiøs
  • tendentiøstendentious
  • tendensiøstendentious
Dutch tendentieus
  • tendentieustendentious
Finnish tarkoitusperäinen
  • tarkoitusperäinentendentious
French tendancieux
  • tendancieuxtendentious
German tendenziös
  • tendenziöstendentious
Italian tendenzioso
  • tendenziosotendentious
Japanese 偏向した, 偏向的な
  • 偏向した (henkou shita)tendentious
  • 偏向的な (henkouteki na)tendentious
  • 傾向的な (keikouteki na)tendentious
Korean 편향된
  • 편향된 (pyeonhyangdoen)tendentious
Norwegian Bokmål tendensiøs, tendentiøs
  • tendensiøstendentious
  • tendentiøstendentious
Polish tendencyjny
  • tendencyjnytendentious
Portuguese tendencioso
  • tendenciosotendentious
Russian тенденцио́зный
  • тенденцио́зный (tɛndɛncióznyj)tendentious
Spanish tendencioso
  • tendenciosotendentious
Swedish tendentiös, tendensiös
  • tendentiöstendentious
  • tendensiöstendentious
Ukrainian упереджений, заангажований
  • упереджений (uperedženyj)tendentious
  • заангажований (zaanhažovanyj)tendentious
  • однобокий (odnobokyj)tendentious
  • з певним ухилом (z pevnym uxylom)tendentious
Cite this entry
APA

tendentious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tendentious

MLA

“tendentious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tendentious. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tendentious,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tendentious.

Source: tendentious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.