Word Finder - tendency

definition

A likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward.

example

Denim has a tendency to fade.

definition

An organised unit or faction within a larger political organisation.

I didn't particularly want to but I've always had a tendency to please.

I can't picture him fighting or picking on anyone, but if I closely consider the signs, I can see his tendency to take advantage of others, if only in a self-serving way.

Bordeaux was a persuasive man with a tendency to move fast - apparently not only with women.

One of Helen's old habits, that is strongest and hardest to correct, is a tendency to break things.

In the skeleton the second and third toes are distinctly more slender than the fourth, showing a tendency towards the character so marked in the following families.

Friends tried to discourage this tendency, fearing lest it would lead to disappointment.

The last thing Denton needed was a fiery redhead with a tendency to speak her mind.

It seems impossible to deny that the tendency of his principles and his arguments is mainly in the line of a metaphysical absolute, as the necessary completion and foundation of all being and knowledge.

There is a marked tendency towards a succulent habit.

After the illness, when they were dependent on signs, Helen's tendency to gesture developed.

The eldership was not for life, but there was always a tendency to make it so.

Besides the stream of tendency which flowed from Kant in the direction of idealism, two other streams emerged from him, often but not always blending.

There seems to be a constant tendency to increase the requirements.

Naturally, there was at first a strong tendency on her part to use only the important words in a sentence.

This episcopacy was at first rather congregational than diocesan; but the tendency of its growth was undoubtedly towards the latter.

The edicts of Milan had only admitted the Christian Church among the number of lawful religions; but the tendency (except in the time of Julian) was towards making it the only lawful religion.

In the flax-mills the tendency is to produce the finest tissues as well as the coarser.

This form of algebra was extensively studied in ancient Egypt; but, in accordance with the practical tendency of the Egyptian mind, the study consisted largely in the treatment of particular cases, very few general rules being obtained.

In spite of the statement that the nature of the organism is the most important factor in variation, the tendency amongst evolutionists has been to take much more account of the influence of external conditions.

The geographers who have hitherto given most attention to the forms of the land have been trained as geologists, and consequently there is a general tendency to make origin or structure the basis of classification rather than form alone.

While the tendency is for the living forms to come into harmony with their environment and to approach the state of equilibriumby successive adjustments if the environment should happen to change, it is to be observed that the action of organisms themselves often tends to change their organisms environment.

His disappearance in both cases is an illustration of one of the features which we have spoken of in the Norman character, the tendency which in fact made Normans out of Northmen, the tendency to adopt the language and manners of the people among whom they found themselves.

Only at Rome, where there was a plebs to be striven against, these distinctions seem to have had a tendency to die out, while at Sparta they seem to have had a tendency to widen.

The growth of railways has been accompanied by a world-wide tendency toward the consolidation of small independent ventures into large groups of lines able to aid one another in the exchange of traffic and to effect economies in administration and in tl-_e purchase of supplies.

But the general tendency to regulate rates by authority of the state has apparently rendered unnecessary the old plan of rate regulation through competition, even if it had not been demonstrated often and again that this form of regulation is costly for all concerned and is effective only during rare periods of direct conflict between companies.

Similarly in Great Britain there is a tendency towards combination by mutual agreement among the companies while they still preserve their independent existence.

Racks of this type usually become impracticable for gradients steeper than 1 in 4, partly because of the excessive weight of the engine required and partly because of the tendency of the cog-wheel to mount the rack.

The rail-failures mentioned above also drew renewed attention to the importance of the thermal treatment of the steel from the time of melting to the last passage through the rolling mill and to the necessity of the finishing temperature being sufficiently low if the product is to be fine grained, homogeneous and tough; and to permit of this requirement being met there was a tendency to increase the thickness of the metal in the web and flanges of the rails.

Compound locomotives have been tried, as stated in § 17, but the tendency in England is to revert to the simple engine for all classes of work, though on the continent of Europe and in America the compound locomotive is largely adopted, and is doing excellent work.

The speed at which the journey has to be completed is obviously another important factor, though the increased power of modern locomotives permits trains to be heavier and at the same time to run as fast, and often faster, than was formerly possible, and in consequence the general tendency is towards increased weight as well as increased speed.

On the continent of Europe the average carrying capacity is rather higher; though wagons of less than io tons capacity are in use, many of those originally rated at io tons have been rebuilt to hold 15, and the tendency is towards wagons of 15-20 tons as a standard, with others for special purposes holding 40 or 45 tons.

Many different couplers of the Janney type are patented and made by different firms, but the tendency is to equip new cars with one of only four or five standard makes.

Since high average speed on a line with frequent stops depends largely on rapidity of acceleration, the tendency in modern equipment is to secure as great an output of power as possible during the accelerating period, with corresponding increase in weight available for adhesion.

Spiritualism has been accused of a tendency to produce insanity, but spiritualistic sittings carried on by private persons do not appear to he harmful provided those who find in themselves "mediumistic" powers do not lose their self-control and exercise these powers when they do not desire to do so, or against their better judgment.

Examined more closely these are found to be vast accumulations of blocks of quartzite, irregular in form, but having a tendency to a rude diamond shape, from 2 to 20 ft.

Similarly in the earlier pre-exilian period of Israel's occupation of Canaanite territory the Hebrews were always subject to this tendency to worship the old Baal or `Ashtoreth (the goddess who made the cattle and flocks prolific).3 A few years of drought or of bad seasons would make a Hebrew settler betake himself to the old Canaanite gods.

Against this tendency the Nazirite order and tradition was a protest.

While Jeremiah's tendency was spiritual and ideal, Ezekiel's was constructive and practical.

The branches should not be lopped in spring, on account of their tendency to bleed at that season.

The change from the dynasty of Omri to that of Jehu has been treated by several hands, and the writers, in their recognition of the introduction of a new tendency, have obscured the fact that the cult of Yahweh had flourished even under such a king as Ahab.

It is true that the situation in Israel or Samaria continues obscure, but a careful study of literary productions, evidently not earlier than the 7th century B.C., reveals a particular loftiness of conception and a tendency which finds its parallels in Hosea and approximates the peculiar characteristics of the Deuteronomic school of thought.

The post-exilic priestly spirit represents a tendency which is absent from the Judaean Deuteronomic book of Kings but is fully mature in the later, and to some extent parallel, book of Chronicles (q.v.).

The traditions reveal a tendency to legitimate new circumstances.

Philosophy since the end of the 18th century has frequently shown a tendency to diverge into mysticism.

So, again, when Recejac defines mysticism as " the tendency to draw near to the Absolute in moral union.

On the other hand, in modern times there has been an increasing tendency to depart from its.

The cyclones of the Bay of Bengal appear to originate over the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and are commonly propagated in a north-westward direction, striking the east coast of the Indian peninsula at various points, and then often advancing with an easterly tendency over the land, and passing with extreme violence across the delta of the Ganges.

A comparison of the two records, however, is especially important for its illustration of the later tendency to idealize the figure of David, and the historical critic has to bear in mind the possibility that this tendency had begun long before the Chronicler's time, and that it may be found in the relatively older records preserved in Samuel.

The ganglia are crowded at the posterior end of the body as in leeches, and there is much tendency to the obliteration of the coelom as in that group. Pterodrilus and Cirrodrilus bear a few, or circles of, external processes which may be branchiae; Bdellodrilus and Astacobdella have none.

The trend of modern critical opinion is towards accepting Map as the author of a Lancelot romance, which formed the basis for later developments, and there is a growing tendency to identify this hypothetical original Lancelot with the source of the German Lanzelet.