Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One's usual mood; temperament.
  • noun A habitual inclination; a tendency.
  • noun A physical property or tendency.
  • noun Arrangement, positioning, or distribution.
  • noun An act of disposing; a bestowal or transfer to another.
  • noun The power or liberty to control, direct, or dispose.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Specifically, in organ-building: the plan or specification in accordance with which the whole instrument is built
  • noun the arrangement of the visible parts of the instrument, as of the display-pipes, the case, the desk or console, the stops, etc.
  • noun A setting in order; a disposing, placing, or arranging; arrangement of parts; distribution: as, the disposition of the infantry and cavalry of an army; the disposition of the trees in an orchard; the disposition of the several parts of an edifice, or of figures in painting; the disposition of tones in a chord, or of parts in a score.
  • noun Disposal; plan or arrangement for the disposal, distribution, or alienation of something; definite settlement with regard to some matter; ultimate destination: as, he has made a good disposition of his property; what disposition do you intend to make of this picture?
  • noun In architecture, the arrangement of the whole design by means of ichnography (plan), orthography (section and elevation), and scenography (perspective view). It differs from distribution, which signifies the particular arrangement of the internal parts of a building.
  • noun Guidance; control; order; command; decree: as, the dispositions of the statute.
  • noun Aptitude; inclination; tendency; readiness to take on any character or habit: said of things animate or inanimate, but especially of an emotional tendency or mood.
  • noun Natural tendency or constitution of the mind; intellectual and moral bent; innate temper: as, an amiable or an irritable disposition.
  • noun In Scots law, a unilateral deed of alienation, by which a right to property, especially heritable property, is conveyed.
  • noun Health; bodily well-being.
  • noun Maintenance; allowance.
  • noun Synonyms and
  • noun Adjustment, regulation, bestowment, classification, grouping, ordering.
  • noun 5 and Inclination, Tendency, etc. See bent.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of disposing, arranging, ordering, regulating, or transferring; application; disposal.
  • noun The state or the manner of being disposed or arranged; distribution; arrangement; order
  • noun Tendency to any action or state resulting from natural constitution; nature; quality
  • noun Conscious inclination; propension or propensity.
  • noun Natural or prevailing spirit, or temperament of mind, especially as shown in intercourse with one's fellow-men; temper of mind.
  • noun Mood; humor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The arrangement or placement of certain things
  • noun Tendency or inclination under given circumstances
  • noun Temperamental makeup or habitual mood
  • noun Control over something
  • noun law Transfer or relinquishment to the care or possession of another
  • noun law Final decision or settlement
  • noun medicine The destination of a patient after medical treatment such as surgery
  • noun music The set of choirs of strings on a harpsichord
  • verb To remove or place in a different position.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others
  • noun a natural or acquired habit or characteristic tendency in a person or thing
  • noun your usual mood
  • noun the act or means of getting rid of something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English disposicioun, from Old French disposition, from Latin dispositiō, dispositiōn-, from dispositus, past participle of dispōnere, to dispose; see dispose.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin disposition-, dispositio, from disponere.

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Examples

Comments

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  • In a hospital, the patient's disposition is where they go after this. To home? Nursing home? Rehab? They gots to go somewhere.

    Usually doctors are careful to use the word disposition as the verb form, to avoid saying that they are disposing the patient.

    January 30, 2008

  • Not disposal. Used for nuclear waste. https://www.energy.gov/ne/spent-fuel-and-waste-disposition

    March 2, 2023