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. Thomas Huxley:

   It is an error to imagine that evolution signifies a constant tendency to increased perfection. That process undoubtedly involves a constant remodelling of the organism in adaptation to new conditions but it depends on the nature of those conditions whether the directions of the modifications effected shall be upward or downward.

2. Margaret Fuller:

   The especial genius of women I believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency.

3. Bill Smead:

   There's a tendency to keep brands for life and you're seeing more companies trying to find themes that will speak to their future customers.

4. David Searles:

   The tendency of an event to occur varies inversely with one's preparation for it.

5. Jeff Kofman:

   Due to slow and measured way of speaking, President Trump has a far lower total word count than usual for a politician ; 380 for this sample, where the average across all speakers is 486, additionally, President Trump has a tendency to swallow some of the prefixes and suffixes of President Trump words ; for example, the word ‘ incredible ’ in the phrase ‘ That's something. And I'm honored by your incredible support and grateful for your commitment to our shared cause ’ was rendered as ‘ credible,' Kofman went on to say. Nancy Pelosi came in last among the 15 politicians, with a 96.01 percent accuracy, according to Trint's findings. Kofman added that the accuracy can also be affected simply by recording quality – which has nothing to do with person’s speech patterns. For example, some errors occurred because the Trint system missed words that were spoken away from the microphone.

Images & Illustrations of tendency

Popularity rank by frequency of use