condition

A state or quality.

Noun

  1. A state or quality.
    • National reports on the condition of public education are dismal.
    • The condition of man can be classified as civilized or uncivilized.
    • Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a...

    1. A particular state of being.

      • Hypnosis is a peculiar condition of the nervous system.
      • Steps were taken to ameliorate the condition of slavery.
      • Security is defined as the condition of not being threatened.

    2. (obsolete) The situation of a person or persons, particularly their social and/or economic class, rank.

      • A man of his condition has no place to make requests.
      • [T]his Zeal was now inflamed by Lady Bellaſton, who had told her the preceding Evening, that ſhe was well ſatiſfied from the Conduct of Sophia, and from her Carriage to his Lordſhip, that all Delays would be dangerous,...

    3. The health status of a medical patient.

      • My aunt couldn’t walk up the stairs in her condition.
      • If the visual attention sequence of children with autism and TD children varied depending on the condition, we could argue that the inclusion of objects in the environment influences the visual attention patterns of...

      Synonyms: fettle

    4. The health status of a medical patient.

      A certain abnormal state of health; a malady or sickness.

      • While the defense lawyers have likened the condition to the post traumatic stress disorders afflicting war veterans and battered women, which have been used in other insanity defense cases, they have said that they know...

      Synonyms: fettle

  2. A requirement.
    • Environmental protection is a condition for sustainability.
    • What other planets might have the right conditions for life?
    • The union had a dispute over sick time and other conditions of employment.
  3. A logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false.
  4. A clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way.

Origin

From Middle English condicioun, from Old French condicion (French condition), from Latin condicio. An unetymological change in spelling due to a confusion with conditio.

Forms

conditions

Synonyms

requisite necessity

Hyponyms

ascending chain condition autism spectrum condition descending chain condition human condition interesting condition Marshall-Lerner condition mint condition necessary condition precondition sufficient condition underlying condition

Derived

bollard condition boundary condition chronic condition conditionability conditionable conditional conditionly condition number condition of carriage condition precedent condition subsequent countercondition critical condition cryocondition decondition DEFCON fee simple subject to condition subsequent in ballast condition in condition initial condition Lipschitz condition loss condition macrocondition malcondition

Verb

  1. To subject to the process of acclimation.
    • I became conditioned to the absence of seasons in San Diego.
    • Heat pumps condition the air on the first floor.
  2. To subject to different conditions, especially as an exercise.
    • They were conditioning their shins in their karate class.
  3. To make dependent on a condition to be fulfilled; to make conditional on.
  4. To place conditions or limitations upon.
    • Yet seas that daily gain upon the shore / Have ebb and flow conditioning their march, / And slow and sure comes up the golden year. - 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Golden Year”, in Poems. […], 4th edition, volume II,...
  5. To shape the behaviour of someone to do something.
    • The children were conditioned to speak up if they had any disagreements.
  6. To treat, especially hair with hair conditioner.
    • Experiments on steep inclines in the United States showed that washing the rails with a detergent to remove oil and grease resulted in a marked improvement; but conditioning the rails with a special neutralising...
  7. To contract; to stipulate; to agree.
    • [P]ay me back my credit, / And I'll condition wi'ye. - 1633 May 21 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, James Shirley, “The Night-Walker, or The Little Thief. A Comedy.”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies....
    • [I]t was conditioned betweene Saturne and Titan, that Saturne being a yonger brother, and raigning (for his owne life), by Titans permiſſion, he ſhould put to death all his male children, leaſt the Titans might be...
  8. To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
    • divers parcel of silk conditioned or assayed - 1868, Once a Week:
  9. To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college.
    • to condition a student who has failed in some branch of study
  10. To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
    • "To think is thus to condition," because it is to know this or that object, and this or that object in a particular mode or condition. - 1882, John Veitch, “Classification of the Laws of Knowledge—Negative and Positive...

Forms

conditions conditioning conditioned

Derived

air-condition conditionability conditionable conditioner miscondition overcondition precondition recondition uncondition