inclination

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English inclinacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman inclinacioun and Middle French inclination,^[5][3][6] and directly borrowed from Latin inclīnātiō (“a leaning, bending; tendency, bias”),^[5][3][7][8] a noun of action from inclīnātus, the past participle of inclīnō (“to cause to lean, bend”).^[3][7][4] The Latin verb, the source of incline, is formed from in- (“into, toward”) and a stem meaning "to lean", from Proto-Indo-European *klei- (“to lean”).^[9][3] The French word is recorded from the end of the 13th century in the sense "tendency, nature", in early use often attributed to the influence of the planets or stars.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person's natural disposition, character or nature: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[5] The MED's first sense is a natural disposition caused by the position of the planets at one's birth or by the predominance of one of the humours.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The astrological "natural disposition" gave way to the general sense of a tendency or readiness to act in a certain way, or a preference, recorded from about 1439 in Lydgate,^[5][2] and to love or affection for a person (1541).^[5] The sense "innate nature" was obsolete by the early 18th century.^[5][8] The physical senses grew alongside: a bow of the head or body, from before 1425,^[5] the act of bending or tilting (1580),^[5] and a slope or slant, from the late 15th century.^[8] Etymonline dates the sense "amount of a slope" to 1799.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave "tendency towards any point" as the first sense, illustrating it with the angle between two rays of light.^[10] In physics it is also the dip of a magnetic needle or field from the horizontal,^[8] and in mathematics the angle between a line and the x-axis.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1398 – natural disposition or character (obsolete by 1713).^[5]
• before 1398 – a tendency toward a physical condition.^[5]
• before 1425 – a bow of the head or body.^[5]
• c. 1439 – a readiness or preference to act in a certain way.^[5]
• 1541 – love or affection for a person.^[5]
• 1580 – the act of bending or tilting.^[5]
• 1799 – the amount of a slope.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tendency or disposition to do something; a liking or preference: He showed no inclination to leave the party early.^[11][6][5]
2. A tendency of a thing toward a particular condition or quality.^[5][8]
3. A bending of the head or body, as in a bow or nod.^[11][6][5]
4. The degree to which something departs from the horizontal or vertical; slope or slant.^[11][8]
5. A sloping surface; an incline.^[11]
6. (physics) The dip of a magnetic needle or field from the horizontal.^[8]
7. (mathematics) The angle between a line and the positive x-axis.^[11]
8. (obsolete, 1398–1713) A person's innate nature or character.^[5][8]

Word family

• inclinational
• disinclination
• noninclination
• overinclination

Related words

• inclinable
• incline
• inclined plane
• inclinometer

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins