predispose
verb
Forms predisposes predisposing predisposed
- verb To make someone susceptible to something (such as a disease).
- verb To make someone inclined to something in advance; to influence.
Etymology
Either a back-formation from predisposition or borrowed from Middle French predisposer.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To dispose or incline beforehand; to give a predisposition or bias to; as, to predispose the mind to friendship.
- verb To make fit or susceptible beforehand; to give a tendency to; as, debility predisposes the body to disease. Predisposing causes (Med.), causes which render the body liable to disease; predisponent causes.
Etymology [Pref. pre- + dispose: cf. F. prédisposer.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “predispose”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details