propensity
32
7.3
- noun
- /prəˈpɛn.sɪ.ti/
- His propensity to help others made him a beloved figure in the community.
- a propensity to
- high propensity
- greater propensity
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Watch on YouTubeAnd that people's propensity to settle is reduced.
- And that people's propensity to settle is reduced.
- And you know, there's a propensity for destruction, right?
- And then those mice can transmit that propensity for anxiety to their children.
- But it, it helps me to know I've got this genetic propensity for putting on weight.
- Oh, we did this and but we have a propensity for reinventing wheels.
- I mean, Ashkenazi Jews have propensity for a number of other diseases.
- I would agree that because of the family genes, there is a propensity for addiction.
- One could be about the propensity of these actions to give pleasures.
- There was so much more propensity for weird shit, man.
- You know, like, we all have this human propensity to fuck things up.
Examples
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A propensity for sweets.
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It's, I mean, do you have sort of a, a propensity for going out with actors?
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How do we avoid the human propensity for active negative feelings?
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You have a propensity to break things.
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Having a propensity for falling in love.
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I would agree that because of the family genes, there is a propensity for addiction.
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But sometimes those propensities can can go out of control.
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Some kids have more of a propensity towards depression and some kids have more of a propensity towards mania.
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You have such a fertile imagination, such a propensity for Gothic melodrama.
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Many people have a propensity to procrastinate when they feel overwhelmed by tasks.
Synonyms
206
2.8
A usual way of behaving, thinking, or changing
60
4.2
A natural tendency to want or choose something
53
4.6
A person's usual mood or natural way of behaving
19
8.5
A natural liking or habit of doing something, often a bad thing
10
7.1
A tendency to think or behave in a certain way because of past experiences
7
3.4
A tendency to prefer one idea or activity
1
7.7
A tendency to do or experience something, often something bad
1
7.0
A natural tendency to act or learn in a certain way
How Likely
Surface Forms
Morphology
propensity = propense (opaque) = propens + ity
Although formed with the productive suffix '-ity', the stem 'propens-/propense' is rare/Latin-derived and not a familiar English base, so learners cannot reliably infer the meaning from parts.
Etymology
The word propensity comes from Latin parts pro- meaning 'forward' and pend meaning 'to hang or lean', the same root in the word depend. So a propensity is like a natural 'lean' toward a certain way of behaving.