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