predilection
/ˌpɹiː.dəˈlɛk.ʃn̩/US/ˌpɹɛ.dəˈlɛk.ʃn̩/
predilection noun: a condition of favoring or liking; a tendency towards; proclivity; predisposition.
Noun
predilection (countable and uncountable, plural predilections)
- A condition of favoring or liking; a tendency towards; proclivity; predisposition.
- The young King looked tenderly at Mademoiselle Mancini, who gave him a glance quite as tender in return—not, however, unobserved. His mother had been for some time past a displeased spectator of a predilection which might become dangerous.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 219
- American operating practice aims at the minimum wastage of time by locomotives at water columns and coal stages, and this predilection for shunters with high capacity tenders is thereby explained.1941 November, “Notes and News: American Tank Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 523
- Synonyms:
- affinity, bag, bent, love, cup of coffee, cup of joe, cup of tea, dish, fancy, jam
predilection meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
predilection in Hindi
- tendency towards
- पूर्वाभिरुचि pūrvābhiruci, खिचाव khicāv, अनुराग anurāg
predilection in Tamil
- கவிப்பு, கடைப்பிடி
predilection in Marathi
- predilection
- प्रवाह pravāh
predilection in Urdu
- التفات, جانب داری, کشش, رجحان, شوق, ترجیح
More languagesFewer languages
- predilection in Bengali
- অনুরাগ, দুর্বলতা
- predilection in Malayalam
- ശക്തമായ ഇഷ്ടം, ആഭിമുഖ്യം, ഇഷ്ടം, ആസക്തി പ്രീതി
- predilection in Kannada
- ಒಲವು, ಪಕ್ಷಪಾತ, ವಿಶೇಷ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ, ಅಂತರಂಗದ ಅನುರಾಗ
- predilection in Sanskrit
- अनुराग anurāga, पूर्वाभिरुचि pūrvābhiruci
Examples of predilection in a sentence
- It was an illusion, of course, generated by Clevinger's predilection for staring fixedly at one side of a question and never seeing the other side at all.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Lieutenant Scheisskopf”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 66:
- Marples' predilection for non-railwaymen in the highest posts.1962 April, “Talking of Trains: From guided weapons to the B.T.C.”, in Modern Railways, page 221:
- The softening and degeneration of the human race he attributes to its progressive predilection for interiors and waning interest in the art of going out and staying there.1967, Flann O’Brien, chapter 2, in The Third Policeman:
- But for him the first rule of judging was to set aside personal predilection and vote the law and the facts.1987 June 29, Edwin M. Yoder Jr., “Lewis Powell a Fine Sense of Balance”, in Washington Post:
Synonyms of predilection
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of predilection
| plural | predilections |
|---|---|
| alternative form | prædilection |
Origin of predilection
Borrowed from Medieval Latin praedīlēctiō.
Words that rhyme with predilection
- section
- connection
- projection
- injection
- selection
- collection
- protection
- inflection
- reflection
- affection
- correction
- deflection
44 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- direction
- election
- erection
- complexion
- recollection
- resurrection
- dejection
- dissection
- flexion
- infection
- rejection
- connexion
- convection
- detection
- disconnection
- misdirection
- objection
- perfection
- vection
- advection
- ejection
- imperfection
- inspection
- interjection
- introspection
- lection
- reflexion
- aspection
- callisection
- disinfection
- disruptive selection
- electrotransfection
- indirect election
- insurrection
- police protection
- porrection
- retroflexion
- self-infection
- snap election
- ticket inspection
- transfection
- trivection
- type introspection
- vivisection
Questions about predilection
- What does predilection mean?
- Predilection means a condition of favoring or liking; a tendency towards; proclivity; predisposition.
- What is predilection in Hindi?
- Predilection in Hindi is पूर्वाभिरुचि (pūrvābhiruci), खिचाव (khicāv), अनुराग (anurāg). See Predilection meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use predilection in a sentence?
- It was an illusion, of course, generated by Clevinger's predilection for staring fixedly at one side of a question and never seeing the other side at all.
- What part of speech is predilection?
- Predilection is a noun.
- How do you pronounce predilection?
- Predilection is pronounced /ˌpɹiː.dəˈlɛk.ʃn̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of predilection?
- The plural of predilection is predilections.
Words near predilection in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: predilection (page history and authors); predilection (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); प्रवाह (Marathi) (page history and authors); predilection (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); predilection (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); predilection (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); predilection (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-predilection.wav.
Cite this entry: “predilection.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/predilection. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.