Showing results for "predisposed"

• past participle of predispose.
• past tense form of predispose.

predisposed

American  

[pree-di-spohzd] / ˌpri dɪˈspoʊzd /

adjective

1. having or showing an inclination or tendency toward a specified condition, opinion, behavior, etc., beforehand.

   Many studies show how genes interact with the environment to cause disease in predisposed individuals.

   The novel is skillfully written, but in a style that requires close reading and a predisposed reader.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of predispose.

Other Word Forms

• predisposedness
  noun
• unpredisposed
  adjective
• predisposedly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of predisposed

predispose ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

If you’re predisposed to something, you’re heading in that direction already — you already have a tendency to develop it. Your medical history or your habits could make you predisposed to a condition, like high blood pressure, or chocolate addiction. Predisposed often describes medical conditions, but it can refer to any tendency. You might be predisposed to a pessimistic outlook. You’re probably predisposed to like someone one of your friends likes. Or you could be predisposed to act in a certain way. If you’re really proud of your dad’s work as a lawyer, you might be predisposed to become a lawyer yourself.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

predisposed

Most had had previous, less severe incidents—or “micro concussions”—that while not enough to send them to a clinician, predisposed them to a bigger event, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2025

Wojcicki said inquiries poured into 23andMe in 2015 after actor Angelina Jolie disclosed that she’d undergone a precautionary double mastectomy upon learning she carried a gene that predisposed her to breast cancer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2025

And to be fair, that’s not a bad courtroom strategy against an opponent who is almost pathologically predisposed to putting his foot in his mouth.

From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2025

"The US market is not only huge, but also more predisposed to taking big shots," Mustafa Suleyman, who co-founded Google DeepMind and has just joined Microsoft, told the BBC.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2024

My mother had a superstition, in fact, that children were predisposed to certain dangers on certain days, all depending on their Chinese birthdate.

From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan