tendency

n.

1. Direction

   drift, aim, bent, trend, current; see also drift 1.

2. Inclination

   leaning, tenor, bias, bent; see inclination 1.

tendency refers to an inclination or disposition to move in a particular direction or act in a certain way, esp. as a result of some inherent quality or habit he has a tendency toward exaggeration; trend suggests a general direction, with neither a definite course nor goal, subject to change or fluctuation by some external force a recent trend in literature; current differs from trend in connoting a clearly defined course, but one also subject to change the current of one's life; drift refers either to the course along which something is being carried or driven the drift toward absolute conformity or to a course taken by something that has unstated or unclear implications what is the drift of this argument?; tenor, equivalent in this connection to drift, connotes more strongly the clarity or purport of the unstated purpose or objective the general tenor of the Bill of Rights