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. Rob Carnell:

   I think there's a tendency for markets at times to just want to be positive unless you hit them repeatedly, and not just with bad news, but with new bad news, there's been an awful lot of bad news priced in. So perhaps the absence of new negatives are enough to allow for a small sense of positivity to creep in.

2. Brian Eno:

   I'm struck by the insidious, computer-driven tendency to take things out of the domain of muscular activity and put them into the domain of mental activity. The transfer is not paying off. Sure, muscles are unreliable, but they represent several million years of accumulated finesse.

3. Tom Naylor:

   The bigger the real-life problems, the greater the tendency for the discipline to retreat into a reassuring fantasy-land of abstract theory and technical manipulation.

4. David Cockfield:

   This market has done this before. You really don't have to have a major reason - once the selling starts, it accelerates. And the buying is the same, it's volatility and a tendency for people trying to follow the market rather than just invest ... they jumped all over the mining stocks.

5. Carlos Castaneda:

   It is important to do what you don't know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus. If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos.

Images & Illustrations of tendency

Popularity rank by frequency of use