Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An innate inclination; a tendency.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A bent of mind, natural or acquired; inclination; natural tendency; disposition to anything good or evil, particularly to evil: as, a propensity to gamble.
  • noun Synonyms Bias, Inclination, etc. See bent.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being propense; natural inclination; disposition to do good or evil; bias; bent; tendency.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tendency, preference, or attraction.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a disposition to behave in a certain way
  • noun a natural inclination
  • noun an inclination to do something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From propense, inclined, from Latin prōpēnsus, past participle of prōpendēre, to be inclined; see propend.]

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Examples

  • But this propensity is already here, in embryonic form.

    Alexis Soyer and the Rise of the Celebrity Chef 2007

  • Appearing before an audience at the University of New Mexico that cheered at virtually every jibe at Obama, McCain unloaded on his Democratic rival for everything from what he called his propensity to raise taxes and desire to impose a government-run health care system to his purported waffling on issues and his "eager" participation in a "corrupt" earmark system.

    Top Stories - Google News 2008

  • On page 22, we are told that the division of labor “is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature … the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.”

    A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2009

  • On page 22, we are told that the division of labor “is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature … the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.”

    A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2009

  • Google hit #5 for darwin propensity for violence, lust for power lord of the flies.

    Archive 2005-07-01 KaneCitizen 2005

  • For example, a consumer with an average long-term propensity to plan for money expect to pay nearly $20,000 more over the course of a 30-year mortgage on a

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • For example, a consumer with an average long-term propensity to plan for money expect to pay nearly $20,000 more over the course of a 30-year mortgage on a

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • For example, a consumer with an average long-term propensity to plan for money expect to pay nearly $20,000 more over the course of a 30-year mortgage on a

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • Flesch tells us that "narratives tend to contain or at least to suggest the possibility of three basic figures (though there may be more or fewer than three characters who ‘instantiate’ them): an innocent, someone who exploits that innocent, and someone else who seeks to punish the exploiter … The biological origin of this propensity is part of what has come to be called the" evolution of cooperation. "which provides the insights that are central to this book."

    Narrative, Evolution and Self Preservation. 2009

  • Flesch tells us that "narratives tend to contain or at least to suggest the possibility of three basic figures (though there may be more or fewer than three characters who ‘instantiate’ them): an innocent, someone who exploits that innocent, and someone else who seeks to punish the exploiter … The biological origin of this propensity is part of what has come to be called the" evolution of cooperation. "which provides the insights that are central to this book."

    2009 October 22 | NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS 2009

Comments

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  • Remarkably similar to a proclivity.

    August 15, 2008

  • "Self-restraint is indulgence of the propensity to forgo." -- Ambrose Bierce

    Edit:

    According to wikiquote it's:

    "Self-denial is indulgence of a propensity to forgo."

    September 25, 2008

  • "Apparently, he had a propensity for violent." The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel pg 9

    October 3, 2010

  • Solomon observed mankind’s propensity (kecenderungan) for evil, describing it as those who “rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked”. ODB July 20, 2011.

    July 20, 2011