disposed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past tense and past participle of dispose.

   The company disposed of its hazardous waste at a licensed facility.

   Once the records had been disposed of, nothing remained to recover.

   Note

   One spelling serves both the simple past and the participle, and what follows it decides the meaning. With of, it belongs to the getting-rid-of verb (the files were disposed of). Without of, it usually means arranged or set in place. When the meaning is to incline someone, the participle shades into the "inclined, minded" adjective, which can be graded: more disposed, most disposed.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having a tendency or willingness toward a particular action or attitude.

   The committee seemed disposed to approve the new budget without much debate.

   After the long flight, he was disposed to skip dinner and go straight to bed.

   Similarinclined, willing, ready, prepared, minded

   Oppositedisinclined, unwilling, reluctant, averse

   Note

   This sense usually takes a to-infinitive, and that construction has barely changed in three centuries. The King James Bible of 1611 has "disposed to pass into Achaia," and Charles E. Lee, writing in Railway Magazine in 1943, has directors "disposed to sell." It signals a readiness rather than a settled decision. That hedge suits measured, slightly formal reporting of what someone was willing to do.

3. 3
   adjectivein compounds

   Having a particular temperament or attitude, often directed toward a specific person or thing.

   The investors were favorably disposed toward the merger from the start.

   Critics remained coolly disposed toward his later work.

   Similarinclined, minded, predisposed

   Note

   Here the word needs a partner in front: well-disposed, ill-disposed, favorably disposed. The adverb carries the judgment. Disposed itself says only that some attitude exists. The fixed pairs take a hyphen before a noun (an ill-disposed neighbor). When the attitude has a target, it follows with toward or to. Without that adverb, the reader is left asking which way the feeling runs.

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