Standard Lemma guide

tendentious

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /tɛnˈdɛnʃəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: T EH2 N D EH1 N SH AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: partisan, slanted, partial, prejudiced
  • That he was a supporter of the cause was clear, because his reports from the front were tendentious.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: partisan, slanted, partial, prejudiced

Antonyms: objective, impartial, unbiased, fair, balanced

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

having or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a tendentious account of recent elections
  • distinguishing between verifiable fact and tendentious assertion

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tendencious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From tendency + -ious, after German tendenziös.

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: tendensieus — tendentious
  • Arabic: مُغْرِض (muḡriḍ) — tendentious
  • Bulgarian: тенденцио́зен (tendenciózen) — tendentious
  • Bulgarian: пристрастен (pristrasten) — tendentious
  • Catalan: tendenciós — tendentious
  • Chinese Mandarin: 偏頗的 /偏颇的 — tendentious
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有偏見的 /有偏见的 — tendentious
  • Chinese Mandarin: 傾向性的 /倾向性的 — tendentious
  • Danish: tendentiøs — tendentious
  • Danish: tendensiøs — tendentious
  • Dutch: tendentieus — tendentious
  • Finnish: tarkoitusperäinen — tendentious
  • French: tendancieux — tendentious
  • Georgian: ტენდენციური (ṭendenciuri) — tendentious
  • German: tendenziös — tendentious
  • Italian: tendenzioso — tendentious
  • Japanese: 偏向した (henkou shita) — tendentious
  • Japanese: 偏向的な (henkouteki na) — tendentious
  • Japanese: 傾向的な (keikouteki na) — tendentious
  • Korean: 편향된 (pyeonhyangdoen) — tendentious
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tendensiøs — tendentious
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tendentiøs — tendentious
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tendensiøs — tendentious
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tendentiøs — tendentious
  • Polish: tendencyjny — tendentious
  • Portuguese: tendencioso — tendentious
  • Russian: тенденцио́зный (tɛndɛncióznyj) — tendentious
  • Serbo-Croatian: tȅndenciōzan — tendentious
  • Slovene: tendenciọ̑zen — tendentious
  • Spanish: tendencioso — tendentious
  • Swedish: tendentiös — tendentious
  • Swedish: tendensiös — tendentious
  • Ukrainian: упереджений (uperedženyj) — tendentious
  • Ukrainian: заангажований (zaanhažovanyj) — tendentious
  • Ukrainian: однобокий (odnobokyj) — tendentious
  • Ukrainian: з певним ухилом (z pevnym uxylom) — tendentious