tendency en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈten.dən.si/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
- tĕnʹdən-sē
- (California) audio
- (General-American) audio
- /ˈtɛn.dən.si/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Medieval Latin tendentia, from tendens, present participle of tendō.
Meanings
-
A likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward.
There's a common tendency among first-game visitors to a casino to bet overcautiously.
In some details, Britannia shows the trend towards American practice that was already apparent in later L.M.S.R. designs—for example, in regard to the mounting of the cab—and this tendency has been further developed in the footwalk with deep sideplating, mounted on the boiler, in place of the framing and splashers usual in British practice in the past.
1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 274:Denim has a tendency to fade.
I have a tendency to get bored after the first half an hour of a movie.
It seems that people with an ancestral history of enduring famines develop a tendency to store more body fat, becoming overfat even when they aren’t overweight.
2025 June 17, Shane Duquette, Marco Walker-Ng, “What is Skinny Fat? And How to Know If You Are”, in Bony to Beastly, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2025:
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An organised unit or faction within a larger political organisation.
In stark contrast to the Europeanist tendency within the party and the Suez Group, this group had a short history.
1997, S. Onslow, Backbench Debate within the Conservative Party and its Influence on British Foreign Policy, 1948-57, Springer, →ISBN, page 234:It reinforced the position of the conformist tendency within the party, since the majority of the candidates were old politicians, many of them members of Papandreou's centre-left CU faction back in the mid-1960s.
2013, Richard Gillespie, Lourdes Lopez Nieto, Michael Waller, Factional Politics and Democratization, Routledge, →ISBN, page 83:Mao launched the struggle against the vulgar materialist tendency within the party as early as 1937.
1974, James Boggs, Grace Lee Boggs, Revolution and Evolution, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 134:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tendencies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
tendency tone · Serota tendency · measure of central tendency · multitendency · central tendency · countertendency · book bowel tendency · ambitendency · tendentious · tendency writing
Synonyms
disposition · inclination · propensity · penchant · trend
Translations (87)
ru скло́нность (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · hi प्रवृत्ति (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ml പ്രവണത (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · nan-hbl 傾向 /倾向 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · pdt Läne (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · de Tendenz (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ar مَيْل (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · tg майл (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · be схі́льнасць (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · uz mayl (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · uk схи́льність (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · be нахі́льнасць (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · lv tendence (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ro tendință (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ht tandans (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · it tendenza (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · uz tendensiya (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · et tendents (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ka ტენდენცია (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · nl inclinatie (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · eo emo (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sv tendens (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · bg скло́нност (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sk sklon (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · id kecenderungan (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · bg тенде́нция (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · hu irány (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ja 傾向 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · fi taipumus (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · vi xu thế (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ka მიდრეკილება (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · la prōpensiō (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · eo inklino (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · th แนวโน้ม (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ar نَزَعَة (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · pl skłonność (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · tr tandans (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ca tendència (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · nb tendens (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · az meyil (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · vi khuynh hướng (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · cs sklon (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sh tendèncija (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · hu tendencia (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · txb rmamñe (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ro înclinație (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · cmn 趨勢 /趋势 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · eo tendenco (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · fa گرایش (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · he נטייה \ נְטִיָּה (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · cmn 傾向 /倾向 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · kk нысай (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · pt tendência (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · lt tendencija (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · nl neiging (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · el τάση (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sq tendencë (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ko 경향 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sh тендѐнција (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · fr tendance (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ja 趨勢 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · pl tendencja (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sl tendenca (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · uk тенде́нція (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · da tendens (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sk tendencia (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · kk үрдіс (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sh sklȍnōst (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ko 추세 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · tr eğilim (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sh скло̏но̄ст (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ms kecenderungan (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sl nagnjenje (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sv benägenhet (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · yue 傾向 /倾向 (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ky тенденция (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · sv trend (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · cs tendence (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · be тэндэ́нцыя (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · el ροπή (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · hy միտում (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · ru тенде́нция (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · az tendensiya (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · mk тенденција (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · hy տենդենցիա (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · es tendencia (likelihood of behaving in a particular way) · kk тенденция (likelihood of behaving in a particular way)