TENDENCY


Meaning of TENDENCY in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ ˈten-dən(t)-sē ]

noun

( plural -cies )

Etymology: Medieval Latin tendentia, from Latin tendent-, tendens, present participle of tendere

Date: 1628

1.

a. : direction or approach toward a place, object, effect, or limit

b. : a proneness to a particular kind of thought or action

2.

a. : the purposeful trend of something written or said : aim

b. : deliberate but indirect advocacy

Synonyms:

tendency , trend , drift , tenor , current mean movement in a particular direction. tendency implies an inclination sometimes amounting to an impelling force

a general tendency toward inflation

trend applies to the general direction maintained by a winding or irregular course

the long-term trend of the stock market is upward

drift may apply to a tendency determined by external forces

the drift of the population away from large cities

or it may apply to an underlying or obscure trend of meaning or discourse

got the drift of her argument

tenor stresses a clearly perceptible direction and a continuous, undeviating course

the tenor of the times

current implies a clearly defined but not necessarily unalterable course

an encounter that changed the current of my life

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate English vocabulary.      Энциклопедический словарь английского языка Merriam Webster.