tendency
tendency (tĕnʹdən-sē) noun
plural tendencies
1. Movement or prevailing movement in a given direction: observed the tendency of the wind; the shoreward tendency of the current.
2. A characteristic likelihood: fabric that has a tendency to wrinkle.
3. A predisposition to think, act, behave, or proceed in a particular way.
4. a. An implicit direction or purpose: not openly liberal, but that is the tendency of the book. b. An implicit point of view in written or spoken matter; a bias.
[Medieval Latin tendentia, from Latin tendēns, tendent- present participle of tendere, to tend. See tend1.]
Synonyms: tendency, trend, current, drift, tenor, inclination. These nouns are compared as they refer to the direction or course of an action or a thought. Tendency implies a predisposition to proceed in a particular way: "The tendency of our own day is . . . towards firm, solid, verifiable knowledge" (William H. Mallock). Trend often applies to a general or prevailing direction, especially within a particular sphere: "the trend of religious thought in recent times" (James Harvey Robinson). Current suggests a course or flow, as of opinion, especially one representative of a given time or place: "[These]words . . . express the whole current of modern feeling" (James Bryce). A drift is a tendency that depends for its direction or course on the impetus of something likened to a shifting current of air or water: Political conservatives fear a drift toward communism in Latin America. Tenor implies a continuous, unwavering course: "His conduct was . . . uniform and unvarying in its tenor" (Frederick Marryat). Inclination usually refers to an individual's propensity for or disposition toward one thing rather than another: "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary" (Reinhold Niebuhr).