proclivity

• Where this has extended through three or four generations, the proclivity is generally strongly marked, and in very early childhood made manifest. —  The Memories of Fifty Years
• If he comes clean and admits that he has this proclivity, and professionals will tell you it's a repeating proclivity, I think his credibility is shot. —  CNN Transcript Jan 26, 2003
• A sufficient, by no means necessarily a total, elimination or decadence of this proclivity will be the condition precedent of any practicable scheme for a general peace on this footing. —  An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Peace And The Terms Of Its Perpetuation
• Nature, it seems, gives to every mind a peculiar proclivity, as to every individual a peculiar mind: to pursue this proclivity is a pleasure; it makes work a delight, and this secures success. —  The Memories of Fifty Years Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest
• Where circumstances are favorable, this proclivity is apt to express itself in a certain servile devotional fervor and a punctilious attention to devout observances; it may perhaps be better characterized as devoutness than as religion. —  Theory of the Leisure Class

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context