Tendency
['tend(ə)nsɪ] or ['tɛndənsi]
Definition
(noun.) a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition toward a certain condition or character or effect; 'the alkaline inclination of the local waters'; 'fabric with a tendency to shrink'.
(noun.) a general direction in which something tends to move; 'the shoreward tendency of the current'; 'the trend of the stock market'.
Checker: Williams--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Direction or course toward any place, object, effect, or result; drift; causal or efficient influence to bring about an effect or result.
Checked by Emma
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Inclination, leaning, direction, determination, bearing, bent, bias, drift, course, aim, scope, proclivity, aptitude, proneness, predisposition, propensity, turn, disposition, liability.
Typist: Ralph
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Vergency, proneness, bias, gravitation, drift, scope, I_aim, disposition,predisposition, proclivity, leaning, inclination, attraction, conductiveness,course
ANT:Disinclination, aversion, repulsion, contravention, deviation, divergency,tangency, divarication, opposition, renitency, reluctance, prevention,neutralization, termination
Typed by Jared
Examples
- Darwin's father was remarkable for his powers of observation, while the grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, is well known for his tendency to speculation . Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another's company and aid in consultation. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- We need no other explication of that esteem, which attends such of the natural virtues, as have a tendency to the public good. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The principal reason why natural abilities are esteemed, is because of their tendency to be useful to the person, who is possessed of them. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The traces of consumption may become fainter, or be wholly effaced: the inherent tendency to vice or crime may be eradicated. Plato. The Republic.
- As it has no tendency to diminish the quantity, it can have none to raise the price of that produce. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But there is a tendency to seek the cause of such aimless activities in the youth's own disposition, isolated from everything else. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Except where there is a disciplined disposition, the tendency is for the imagination to run loose. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Curiosity is but the tendency to make these conditions perceptible. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- If you have a tendency toward mouth breathing, let a physician examine your nose and throat. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- This changing focus in politics is a tendency at work all through our lives. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- We see this tendency to become striped most strongly displayed in hybrids from between several of the most distinct species. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- But it had a preponderating tendency, when considered, to become fainter. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Here was an economic tendency of revolutionary significance--the organization of business in a way that was bound to change the outlook of a whole nation. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The increasing facilities of communication enhanced this tendency and depleted Dublin. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These were but the outward and visible symbols of his westering tendencies. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Modern psychology has substituted for the general, ready-made faculties of older theory a complex group of instinctive and impulsive tendencies. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- For they are the indispensable conditions of the realization of his tendencies. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- With cats, for instance, one naturally takes to catching rats, and another mice, and these tendencies are known to be inherited. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The same tendencies apply with some modifications to the clothing of mankind. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- I saw some, with naturally elevated tendencies and good feelings, kept down amongst sordid privations and harassing griefs. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was difficult to believe that Thomasin would be cheered by a husband with such tendencies as these. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- They denote the specific continuity of the surroundings with his own active tendencies. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Similar tendencies had already appeared among the English Wycliffites. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Now Rawdon Crawley, rascal as the Colonel was, had certain manly tendencies of affection in his heart and could love a child and a woman still. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- A multitude whose tendencies could be perceived, though not its essences. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Or contrary tendencies in the child are appealed to to divert him from his troublesome line of behavior. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And another is to see panic in the face of a failed bullfighter of Communist tendencies when I say, as a joke, I might kiss him. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Editor: Sheldon