proclivity

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

PROCLIV'ITY, noun [Latin proclivitas, proclivis; pro and clivus, a cliff.] 1. Inclination; propensity; proneness; tendency. The sensitive appetite may engender a proclivity to steal, but not a necessity to steal. 2. Readiness; facility of learning. He had such a dexterous proclivity that his teachers were fain to restrain his forwardness.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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