predisposition
Americannoun
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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:
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
Your ideal rise time is linked to your chronotype, your genetic predisposition to waking at a certain time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
The Oscar-winning actor announced in 2013 that she had undergone a double mastectomy, followed by a double oophorectomy in 2015, due to her genetic predisposition to cancer.
From Barron's ● Dec. 15, 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
That being said, medical professionals have noticed some patterns that may lead us to understand predispositions.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2026
"These effects are compounded by pre-existing health conditions, lifestyle choices, and genetic predispositions, all of which can accelerate cancer development."
From Science Daily ● Dec. 11, 2025
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
Venus turns out not to oblige our predispositions.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions 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.
