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tendency

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈten.dən.si/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin tendentia (“inclination, leaning”),[2][3][4] from Latin tendēns, present participle of tendere, to stretch, aim (see tend).[2][3][5] An earlier, rarer word in the same sense was tendaunce (mid-15th century), from Old French tendance.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inclination to move in some direction or towards some end: 1628, in Thomas Spencer's Art of Logic.[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Movement towards something is from 1654,[6] and the drift or aim of a discourse from 1732.[6] In politics, under French influence, a tendency is a faction within a larger party (1974).[6] Tendentious, having a deliberate bias, is a 20th-century word.[4]

Timeline

  • mid-15th century – tendaunce.[3]
  • 1628 – tendency.[2][6]
  • 1732 – the drift of a discourse.[6]
  • 1974 – a political faction.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An inclination to behave or develop in a particular way; a propensity.
  2. A general movement or trend in a particular direction.
  3. A faction within a political party.

Word family

  • ambitendency
  • countertendency
  • tendentious
  • central tendency
  • measure of central tendency
  • tendency tone

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster