penchant

pen·chant

noun \ˈpen-chənt, especially British ˈpäⁿ-ˌshäⁿ\

Definition of PENCHANT

: a strong and continued inclination; broadly : liking

Examples of PENCHANT

1. <a penchant for sitting by the window and staring moodily off into space>
2. Aside from the Catholic penchant for fish on Fridays, there is also the tradition of eating red beans and rice on Monday … —Tom Piazza, Why New Orleans Matters, 2005
3. Whether manifested in feminine decor or in an approach to teaching that assumes a female penchant for cooperative, or “connected,” learning, stereotypical notions of femininity often infect institutions for women and girls. —Wendy Kaminer, Atlantic, April 1998
4. From both her father and mother she had inherited a penchant for art, literature, philosophy, and music. Already at eighteen she was dreaming of painting, singing, writing poetry, writing books, acting—anything and everything. —Theodore Dreiser, The Titan, 1914

Origin of PENCHANT

French, from present participle of pencher to incline, from Vulgar Latin *pendicare, from Latin pendere to weigh

First Known Use: 1672

Related to PENCHANT

Synonyms

affection, affinity, aptitude, bent, bias, bone, devices, disposition, genius, habitude, impulse, leaning, partiality, inclination, predilection, predisposition, proclivity, propensity, tendency, turn

Related Words

favor, one-sidedness, partisanship, prejudice; endowment, faculty, flair, genius, gift, knack, talent; addiction, appetite, fancy, fondness, like, liking, preference, taste; forte, speciality, specialty; convention, custom, habit, pattern, practice (also practise), routine, trick, way, wont; eccentricity, idiosyncrasy, kink, oddity, peculiarity, quirk, singularity

Near Antonyms

allergy, averseness, aversion, disfavor, disinclination, dislike, disliking, disrelish, distaste; detachment, impartiality, neutrality, objectivity; apathy, disinterestedness, indifference, insouciance, nonchalance, unconcern

See Synonym Discussion at leaning

Rhymes with PENCHANT

trenchant