condition

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈdɪʃn̩/
• (General American) enPR: kəndĭshʹən, IPA^(key): /kənˈdɪʃən/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃən
• Hyphenation: con‧dit‧ion

Noun

condition (countable and uncountable, plural conditions)

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.

   • 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:

     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.

   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.

      Aging is a condition over which we are powerless.

   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.

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

        [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.

   3. The health status of a medical patient.

      Synonym: fettle

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

      • 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:

        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.

      1. A certain abnormal state of health; a malady or sickness.
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. (law) A clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way.

Verb

condition (third-person singular simple present conditions, present participle conditioning, simple past and past participle conditioned)

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. To make dependent on a condition to be fulfilled; to make conditional on.
4. (transitive) To place conditions or limitations upon.
   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Golden Year”, in Poems. […], 4th edition, volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1846, →OCLC, page 89:

     Yet seas that daily gain upon the shore / Have ebb and flow conditioning their march, / And slow and sure comes up the golden year.

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

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

6. (transitive) To treat (the hair) with hair conditioner.
7. (transitive) To contract; to stipulate; to agree.
   • 1633 May 21 (licensing date), 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:

     [P]ay me back my credit, / And I'll condition wi'ye.

   • 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:

     [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.

8. (transitive) To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
   • 1868, Once a Week:

     divers parcel of silk conditioned or assayed

9. (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

10. To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
    • 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:

      "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.

Etymology

From Middle French condition, from Old French condicion, borrowed from Latin condiciōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.di.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

condition f (plural conditions)

1. term, condition

   une condition sine qua non ― an imperative

   une condition suffisante ― a sufficient condition

   une condition nécessaire ― a necessary condition

   à condition que ― on condition that

   à condition de ― on condition of

2. condition, state

   en bonne condition ― in good condition

   une excellente condition physique ― an excellent physical condition

3. social status, walk of life

   Le couple se contentait de soirées entre amis de conditions diverses. ― The couple was content with partying with friends from all walks of life.

4. (in the plural) conditions

   conditions de vie ― living conditions

   conditions de travail ― working conditions

Further reading

• “condition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Etymology

From Old French condicion, from Latin condicio.

Noun

condition f (plural conditions)

1. condition (state, quality)