predisposition

Etymology

It is formed from English pre- + disposition,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} after Medieval Latin praedispositio, which Bacon used in Latin in 1620 and which had meant predestination in 1542.^[2] Disposition is from Old French disposicion and Latin dispositio (“arrangement, management”).^[3] The OED notes that the verb predispose and the adjective predisposed are recorded earlier;^[2] Etymonline, which dates the verb to the 1640s, takes it as perhaps a back-formation from the noun.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tendency to develop a disease: 1622, in Francis Bacon's Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1620s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1615–25.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Bacon used the word first in a medical sense, a susceptibility to disease, and in 1626, in Sylva Sylvarum, in the general sense of an inclination formed beforehand.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "previous adaptation to any certain purpose", quoting Bacon's Henry VII on the "predispositions of seasons".^[6] Both senses remain in use.^[4][7] Collins labels the disease sense as medical.^[7]

Timeline

• 1622 – a tendency to develop a disease.^[2]
• 1626 – a prior inclination or tendency, in general.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tendency or inclination to act or think in a certain way, present beforehand: a predisposition to trust strangers.^[4][7][2]
2. (medicine) A susceptibility to a particular disease or condition: a genetic predisposition to heart disease.^[7][2]

Word family

• predispositional

Related words

• predispose
• disposition
• dispose

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins