predisposition
Americannoun
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predispositions
plural
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the fact or condition of being predisposed.
a predisposition to think optimistically.
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Medicine/Medical. tendency to a condition or quality, usually based on the combined effects of genetic and environmental factors.
noun
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the condition of being predisposed
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med susceptibility to a specific disease See diathesis
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of predisposition
First recorded in 1615–25; pre- + disposition
Explanation
A predisposition is a tendency to do something. If you know you have a predisposition toward getting carsick, better to plan ahead and avoid eating before a long drive. Things could get ugly. Predisposition comes from the Latin prae meaning "before," and disponere meaning "put in order, arrange, distribute." If you have a predisposition to think or act a certain way, you can anticipate your reaction before it happens. A genetic predisposition means you are likely to inherit a trait from your parents. Someone might have a genetic predisposition to diabetes or to another illness.
Vocabulary lists containing predisposition
"Magic and the Brain," Vocabulary from the magazine article
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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Cosmos
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“If somebody already has that predisposition, then they may have symptoms with small amounts of lactose.” she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
But a genetic predisposition and family history aren’t the only causes of a dissection.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
The samples helped people discover entirely new family trees and could reveal consequential health information, such as a genetic predisposition to cancer.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
Genetic predisposition increases disease risk in certain populations.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 17, 2025
Lowell and Schiaparelli and others, doing visual observations under difficult seeing conditions, were misled—in part perhaps because of a predisposition to believe in life on Mars.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Bonta said the failure resulted in a 2023 data breach which exposed genetic predispositions and risk factors of nearly seven million users, plus information about biological relatives, ancestry, and ethnicity.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
In the 1990s, teams of scientists — supported at least in part by NIH funding — tracked down the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes responsible for inherited predispositions to breast and other cancers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2025
Led by Konstantinos Lazaridis, M.D., the study analyzed DNA from over 100,000 participants from diverse backgrounds, providing important insights into certain genetic predispositions to support personalized and proactive medical guidance.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
The effect of food on our taste predispositions doesn't stop in early life: What we eat as adults, especially our sugar and salt intake, can also shape how we perceive and potentially choose food.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2023
Why is the fact that each of us comes from a culture with its own distinctive mix of strengths and weaknesses, tendencies and predispositions, so difficult to acknowledge?
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
