Definition of "tendency" []

• Movement or prevailing movement in a given direction: observed the tendency of the wind; the shoreward tendency of the current. (noun)
• A characteristic likelihood: fabric that has a tendency to wrinkle. (noun)
• A predisposition to think, act, behave, or proceed in a particular way. (noun)
• An implicit direction or purpose: not openly liberal, but that is the tendency of the book. (noun)
• An implicit point of view in written or spoken matter; a bias. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Your expression, "and tends to depart in a slight degree," I think hardly grammatical; a _tendency_ to depart cannot very well be said to be in a slight degree; a _departure_ can, but a tendency must be either a _slight tendency_ or a _strong tendency_; the degree to which the departure may reach must depend on favourable or unfavourable causes in addition to the tendency itself."
• "Mr. LaHood, in turn, has been criticized by some senior FAA officials for what they described as a tendency to micromanage FAA decisions."
• "Your tendency is then to play a little safer, and that's not the way to play this game. ''"