condition

plural conditions

1. countableuncountableA state or quality.

   National reports on the condition of public education are dismal.

   3 more examples

   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 loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 48

   A wave simulator in the tank can re-enact tsunamis and northeasters, and imitate wave conditions from midocean.

   2007 February 20, Tina Kelley, “A Wet Wind Tunnel So Ships Can Move Faster and Better”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2022

   Synonyms: way

   1. countableuncountableA particular state of being.

      Aging is a condition over which we are powerless.

      3 more examples

      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.

      Synonyms: way

   2. countableobsoleteuncountableThe 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.

      1 more example

      [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, and that the only Way to ſucceed, was to preſs the Match forward with ſuch Rapidity, that the young Lady ſhould have no Time to reflect, and be obliged to conſent while ſhe ſcarce knew what ſhe did. In which Manner, ſhe ſaid, one half of the Marriages among People of Condition were brought about.

      1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing Various Matters”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 142

      Synonyms: way

   3. countableuncountableThe health status of a medical patient.

      My aunt couldn’t walk up the stairs in her condition.

      1 more example

      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 both groups.

      2024 November 15, Işık Akın Bülbül, Selda Özdemir, “Evaluation of the Social Attention Hypothesis: Do Children with Autism Prefer to See Objects Rather than People?”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, →DOI

      Synonyms: way, fettle

   4. countableuncountableA 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 of no previous trials when a "black rage" defense has been raised.

      1997 April 7, Jonathan Rabinovitz, “Hearing Held on Bid to Repress Lawyers in Murder Case”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jul 2014

      Synonyms: way, fettle

2. countableuncountableA requirement or prerequisite.

   Environmental protection is a condition for sustainability.

   4 more examples

   The performance of managerial functions is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition of belonging to the capitalist class.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 353

   Ah, no inhibitions Make no conditions Get a little outta line I ain't gonna act Politically correct I only wanna have a good time

   1997, Shania Twain, Mutt Lange, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”, in Come On Over, performed by Shania Twain

   What other planets might have the right conditions for life?

   The union had a dispute over sick time and other conditions of employment.

   Synonyms: requisite, necessity

3. countableuncountableA logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false.
4. countableuncountablelawA clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way.

present singular third person conditions · participle present conditioning · participle past conditioned · past conditioned

1. To subject to the process of acclimation.

   Heat pumps condition the air on the first floor.

   1 more example

   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. transitiveTo make dependent on a condition to be fulfilled; to make conditional on.

   After some opposition, Marianne yielded to her sister's entreaties, and consented to go out […] She expressly conditioned, however, for paying no visits […]

   1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

4. transitiveTo 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, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1846, →OCLC, page 89

5. To shape the behaviour of someone to do something.

   The children were conditioned to speak up if they had any disagreements.

6. transitiveTo treat, especially hair with hair conditioner.

   1 more example

   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 chemical completely eliminated slipping on a bank on which it was so common as to necessitate restriction of trainloads.

   1956 May, “Eliminating Slipping of Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 280

7. transitiveTo 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. […], [part 2], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act II, scene viii, page 212, column 2

   1 more example

   [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 interrupted by any of them in their ſucceſſion; which agreement becauſe Saturne performed in his firſt borne, it is fained that Saturne deuoured his owne children.

   1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of Idolatrous Corruptions, Quickly Rising, and Hardly at Length Vanishing in the World: […]”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 1st book, §. V (Of the Three Chiefest Iupiters; and the Strange Storie of the Third), page 88

8. transitiveTo 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. UStransitivecollegesTo 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 Thought—Relativity”, in Hamilton, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott and Co.; Edinburgh: W[illia]m Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 210