• IPA: /pɹəˈpɛnsɪti/

propensity

1. An inclination, disposition, tendency, preference, or attraction.

   He has a propensity for lengthy discussions of certain favorite topics.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Last Chapter”, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC ↗, page 326 ↗:

     I must own they do dearly delight in a judgment; and sorry am I that I cannot gratify this laudable propensity by specifying some peculiar evil incurred by Mr. Delawarr's ambition, or Lady Etheringhame's vanity.

   • 1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC ↗:

     To the psychologist the religious propensities of man must be at least as interesting as any other of the facts pertaining to his mental constitution. It would seem, therefore, that, as a psychologist, the natural thing for me would be to invite you to a descriptive survey of those religious propensities.

• proclivity, propension, predilection, see also Thesaurus:predilection

• propense
• propend

• French: propension, tendance
• German: Neigung, Tendenz
• Italian: propensione, tendenza, inclinazione
• Portuguese: propensão, tendência, inclinação, predisposição, predileção
• Russian: скло́нность
• Spanish: propensión, inclinación