Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Tendency

Tendency , noun

[Latin tendents, -entis, present participle of tendere: compare French tendance. See Tend to move.]

Direction or course toward any place, object, effect, or result; drift; causal or efficient influence to bring about an effect or result.
Writings of this kind, if conducted with candor, have a more particular tendency to the good of their country. — Addison
In every experimental science, there is a tendency toward perfection. — Macaulay