tendency
ten.den.cy \'ten-d*n-se-\ n [ML tendentia, fr. L tendent-, tendens, prp. of
tendere] 1a1: direction or approach toward a place, object, effect, or
limit 1a2: BIAS, INCLINATION 1b: a proneness to a particular kind of
thought or action : PROPENSITY 2a: the purposeful trend of something
written or said : AIM 2b: deliberate but direct advocacy mean movement in
a particular direction. TENDENCY implies a driving force sending a person
or thing in a given direction; TREND implies a direction maintained in
spite of minor irregularities or windings and more subject to change than
TENDENCY; DRIFT suggests a tendency influenced by wind or current, or it
may apply to an underlying inferred meaning; TENOR is close to the latter
sense of DRIFT but suggests more clarity or definiteness; CURRENT implies a
clearly defined but not necessarily unalterable direction or tendency SYN
syn TENDENCY, TREND, DRIFT, TENOR, CURRENT