Definitions for tendency
ˈtɛn dən siten·den·cy

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. inclination, disposition, tendency(noun)

   an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others

   "he had an inclination to give up too easily"; "a tendency to be too strict"

2. leaning, propensity, tendency(noun)

   an inclination to do something

   "he felt leanings toward frivolity"

3. tendency, inclination(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"

4. tendency, trend(noun)

   a general direction in which something tends to move

   "the shoreward tendency of the current"; "the trend of the stock market"

Wiktionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. tendency(Noun)

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

   Denim has a tendency to fade.

   Etymology: Ultimately from the Latin tendere / tendō.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tendency(noun)

   direction or course toward any place, object, effect, or result; drift; causal or efficient influence to bring about an effect or result

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tendency' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3329

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tendency' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4589

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tendency' in Nouns Frequency: #1204

How to pronounce tendency?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say tendency in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tendency in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tendency in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of tendency in a Sentence

1. James Fenimore Cooper:

   The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

2. Jacob Lahne:

   There is definitely a tendency for bartenders to talk about how some drinks should absolutely be made with bourbon or rye, and I think it’s clear now that there is more flexibility, in a way it’s fun and exciting — it gives you a bigger universe to play with.

3. Google Translate:

   In the smoke haze, the most abundant particles are around onemicrometre in size, but these particles do not change the colour of the light we see, there are also smaller particles, around 0.05 micrometres or less, that dont make up a lot of the haze but are still somewhat more abundant during a haze period [than a normal non-haze period]... but this is enough to give an extra tendency to scatter red light more in the forward and backward directions than blue light - and that is why would you see more red than blue.

4. Tim Reihm:

   I think there's been a tendency in the party to drift a little too far left and I think that's going to disenfranchise a large section of the country, joe represents a sort of a more middle ground where we can bring people together instead of becoming more and more fractious.

5. Pranab Mukherjee:

   There is a growing tendency to resort to disruption as a means of parliamentary intervention. Dissent is a recognized democratic expression, but disruption leads to loss of time and resources, and paralyses policy formulation, under no circumstances should there be disruption of the proceedings. A noisy minority cannot be allowed to gag a patient majority.

Images & Illustrations of tendency

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