Tendency

//ˈtɛn.dən.si// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward.

    "Denim has a tendency to fade."

  2. 2
    a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition toward a certain condition or character or effect wordnet
  3. 3
    An organised unit or faction within a larger political organisation.

    "Mao launched the struggle against the vulgar materialist tendency within the party as early as 1937."

  4. 4
    an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others wordnet
  5. 5
    an inclination to do something wordnet
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  1. 6
    a general direction in which something tends to move wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
inclinationdirectiondispositiondispositioninclinationleaning

Example

More examples

"You have a tendency to talk too fast."

Etymology

From Medieval Latin tendentia, from tendens, present participle of tendō.

Related phrases

Serota tendencybook bowel tendencycentral tendencymeasure of central tendencytendency tonetendency writing

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.