propensity
a natural inclination or tendency: a propensity to drink too much.
Obsolete. favorable disposition or partiality.
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Origin of propensity
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use propensity in a sentence
Alpha-ketoacids drew their attention because of “their stability in water and their propensity to form carbon-carbon bonds, the skeleton of biology,” Springsteen said.
New Clues to Chemical Origins of Metabolism at Dawn of Life | John Rennie | October 12, 2020 | Quanta MagazineBut, van Elk says, this propensity can cause us to sense the presence of another even when we’re alone.
Along the way, IBM says it expects to achieve exponentially improving “quantum volume,” an invented measure that factors in a processor’s propensity for operational errors.
IBM plans a huge leap in superfast quantum computing by 2023 | rhhackettfortune | September 15, 2020 | FortuneContent that has the propensity to create specific harm will be removed, whereas tweets that mischaracterize or represent general harm will be labeled as such.
How Google, Facebook, and Twitter plan to handle misinformation surrounding 2020 presidential election results | Danielle Abril | September 10, 2020 | FortuneYu and colleagues investigated whether elite controllers have a propensity for steering the virus to heterochromatin.
In a first, a person’s immune system fought HIV — and won | Tina Hesman Saey | August 26, 2020 | Science News
He also has a propensity to use clanking words when he could have used simpler ones.
Daphne Merkin on Lena Dunham, Book Criticism, and Self-Examination | Mindy Farabee | December 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMcAndrews agreed that the androgenic hormone pill would be problematic for those with a genetic propensity for ADA.
Birth Control Made My Hair Fall Out, and I’m Not the Only One | Molly Oswaks | October 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTInstead there was the emergence of a Tea Party movement that brought many traditionally low-propensity voters to the polls.
The focus is on “low-propensity voters who will not show up unless someone knocks on their door,” says Donnelly.
The critters have the propensity to devour their babies if alarmed and so require a calm environment for breeding.
Avoid a loquacious propensity; you should never occupy more than your share of the time, or more than is agreeable to others.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness | Florence HartleyThen it was that the insular propensity grew impudent and headstrong, and soon became a power in the land.
A Cursory History of Swearing | Julian SharmanIt was only by persevering effort that I convinced him his church-going propensity could not be allowed.
Minnie's Pet Dog | Madeline LeslieIt was a propensity which received frequent checks from those around her.
A Charming Fellow, Volume II (of 3) | Frances Eleanor TrollopeIt is no new propensity of animal nature, to find pleasure from the combination of a stimulant, and a sedative.
British Dictionary definitions for propensity
/ (prəˈpɛnsɪtɪ) /
a natural tendency or disposition
obsolete partiality
Origin of propensity
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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