When you're disposed to do something, you're inclined or willing to do it. If you're disposed to help a friend with their homework, you feel naturally ready to assist. If someone is well disposed toward an idea, they're favorably inclined and open to it.

The word captures your attitude or tendency before you actually act. A teacher might notice that some students are disposed to daydream during afternoon classes, meaning they naturally tend in that direction. When you're kindly disposed toward someone, you feel friendly and generous toward them.

You'll also see disposed in phrases like disposed of, which means gotten rid of or thrown away. When you dispose of trash, you throw it out. When a detective novel says a case has been “disposed of,” it means it's been settled or finished.

The opposite, indisposed, means you're unwilling or unable to do something, often because you're not feeling well. If your aunt is indisposed, she might be sick or simply unavailable. In older books, people used this as a polite way of saying someone couldn't attend something without explaining why.

Disposition (the noun form) describes someone's general temperament or attitude. A person with a cheerful disposition tends to be happy and optimistic, while someone with a suspicious disposition tends to distrust others easily.