Hi,
Please could anyone tell me the actuall difference between ‘tendency’ and ‘propensity’.
Please help me.
From what I can think, “propensity” is most often used of people. “tendency” can be used of people or objects/events. “propensity” is a less common word.
Hi Dozy thanks.
But one help, can I substitute ‘tendency’ for ‘propensity’ when talking of people?
Like the following:
- He has a propensity to exagerate.
- He has a tendency to exagerate.
How sameness is the above.
I find it hard to identify any difference in meaning between those two. As I mentioned, “propensity” is a less common word, and that registers with me when I compare the two, though it is not so uncommon as to be surprising to encounter.
Spelling: exaggerate
Thank you very much Dozy.
My preconception about propensity was- The natural way of behaving in a particular way. Whiles Tendency: was the most likely way of acting in a particular way.
So the difference for me was, with the propensity there is some kind of natural behaviour but Tendency don’t.
But thanks Dozy for explanation, besides I have learned from you thanks.
God bless.
Yes, you may have a point there Ebenezer, now you mention it. It’s possible that “propensity” does have a slightly stronger sense of natural or inherent/instinctive behaviour.
Dozy thank you for your kind note and endorsement.
Another worrisome word that has the some meaning as propensity and tendency is DISPOSITION. I cant really strike the difference between it from propensity and tendency. Even though I have consulted the dic.
Please in your own understanding can you help me learn it?.
Meaning-wise “disposition”, in the relevant sense, is roughly interchangeable with the others, but there may be differences in its typical use in sentences, and in typical collocations. For example, we often say that someone has a “nervous/happy/irritable/etc. disposition”, but the use of “tendency” or “propensity” there would be less usual. Similarly, “tendency to (do something)” seems more common than “disposition to (do something)” (though the latter is not actually wrong).
“disposition” also has other meanings not shared at all with “tendency” or “propensity”, such as when referring to the spatial arrangement of things. See e.g. oxforddictionaries.com/definitio … on?view=uk
Thanks Dozy.
Last but not the least. You quite often make use of ‘meaning-wise’ what is the meaning of this compound word?
This is sense 2 of “-wise” at collinsdictionary.com/dictio … lish/-wise
I.e. “meaning-wise” means “with reference to meaning” or “as far as meaning is concerned”. Some people (certainly in BrE) do not much like this use of “-wise” with arbitrary nouns such as “meaning”. I would advocate only sparing use.