penchant
a strong liking for something
TRANSLATION
a penchant for something = Neigung, Faible, Vorliebe, Hang, Schwäche für etw. haben
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The two men, who left jobs as landscapers, say they found a solution to their lack of winter work when they turned their PENCHANT for selling unwanted items online through eBay into a business of their own.
(Vermont Business Magazine)
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Australians love debt as much as Americans do, and when combined with a PENCHANT for owning their own property, it gives them one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world.
(Global Finance magazine)
Did you
know?
penchant
noun
- a definite liking; a strong inclination
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000)
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WORD ORIGIN
The Online Etymology Dictionary says penchant was borrowed from the French penchant (circa 1670), which is the present participle of the Old French pencher, meaning to incline or bend and further from the Late Latin pendicare, which was formed from the Latin pendere, meaning to hang.
To have a penchant for something means to have a strong liking or an inclination. Depending on what one has a penchant for, it can provide enjoyment, cost loads of money, be totally harmless, or get you into a heap of trouble.
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A PENCHANT FOR RED PICKUPS
The Portland Oregon (U.S.) police recently spotted a young man speeding in a stolen red Ford pickup truck along the Columbia River Highway. After they attempted to pull him over, he took off at speeds up to 100 miles an hour (160 km/h).
Investigators say he lost control and crashed into a ditch. As the deputy was calling for medical help, the driver slipped out the rear window and took off on foot. The officer followed and finally tackled the suspect, who elbowed the deputy in the face and escaped.
The deputy said the man fled into the woods, but dropped his wallet along the way. Backup and canine search units were unable to find the 22-year-old speedster, now identified as Mr Ronald Powers. About two hours later, officers got another call that a similar red Ford pickup had been stolen in the area -- and that Powers was the main suspect in that case as well.
Mr Powers will have to develop a PENCHANT for something else besides red pickup trucks for a while - jailhouse food perhaps?
Source: KWG Portland Oregon News
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SYNONYMS
an affection for, an affinity for, an attachment to, a bent for, a bias towards, a disposition towards, eyes for, an inclination towards, a liking for, a partiality to, a predilection for, a predisposition towards, a proclivity for, a proneness towards, a propensity for, a taste for, a tendency towards, an itch for, a thing for, a weakness for, a yen for
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Practice OWAD in a conversation today, say something like:
"Helga has a PENCHANT for fine wine, let's let her decide the drinks for our anniversary dinner."
