Condition

Pronunciation

• enPR: kÉ™ndÄ­'shÉ™n, IPA: /kÉ™nˈdɪʃən/, /kÊŒnˈdɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃən

Origin

From Old French condicion (French condition), from Latin conditiō, noun of action from perfect passive participle conditus, + noun of action suffix -io.

Full definition of condition

Noun

1. A logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false.
2. A requirement, term, or requisite.
   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. (legal) A clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way.
4. The health status of a medical patient.
   My aunt couldn't walk up the stairs in her condition.
5. The state or quality.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, 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 loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
6. National reports on the condition of public education are dismal.   The condition of man can be classified as civilized or uncivilized.
7. 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.   Aging is a condition over which we are powerless.
8. (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 request.

Synonyms

• (the health or state of something) fettle

Derived terms

Verb

1. To subject to the process of acclimation.I became conditioned to the absence of seasons in San Diego.
2. To subject to different conditions, especially as an exercise.They were conditioning their shins in their karate class.
3. (transitive) To place conditions or limitations upon.
• TennysonSeas, that daily gain upon the shore,
  Have ebb and flow conditioning their march.
4. To shape the behaviour of someone to do something.
5. (transitive) To treat (the hair) with hair conditioner.
6. (transitive) To contract; to stipulate; to agree.
• Beaumont and FletcherPay me back my credit,
  And I'll condition with ye.
• Sir Walter RaleighIt was conditioned between Saturn and Titan, that Saturn should put to death all his male children.
7. (transitive) To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
8. (US, colleges, transitive) 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
9. To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
• Sir W. HamiltonTo think of a thing is to condition.

Derived terms