Disposition

How to spell disposition

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce disposition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disposition mean?

1. nounA person's inherent qualities of mind and character; their natural temperament or mood.
2. nounThe way in which something is placed, arranged, or organised.
3. nounAn inclination or tendency to act or think in a particular way.

Disposition in a sentence

• Her sunny disposition made her a favourite among the office staff.

• The architect studied the disposition of the rooms before suggesting changes.

• His disposition to interrupt made meetings run far longer than planned.

• The dog had a gentle disposition and never snapped at the children.

• The general reviewed the disposition of his forces along the ridge.

• A genetic disposition toward high blood pressure runs in the family.

Where does disposition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travelled into English in the late 1300s from the Latin dispositio, a noun formed from the verb disponere, meaning 'to set in order' or 'to arrange'. That verb breaks down into dis-, here carrying the sense of 'apart' or 'in various directions', and ponere, 'to place' or 'to put', which is the same root that quietly sits inside position, deposit, and compose. The original idea was literally about how things were laid out or arranged, and from there it grew a second life describing the inner 'arrangement' of a person's mind and temperament, the settled way someone tends to be. English borrowed it by way of Old French disposicion, which is why the spelling keeps the smooth -sition ending rather than anything harsher. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle: that little -po- is easy to swallow in speech, and writers sometimes drop the i in -sition, so it helps to remember the buried word position inside it.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart, in different directions)
• pos (from Latin ponere: to place)
• -ition (noun suffix indicating an action or state)