condition definition

English condition definition

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəndĭshʹən, IPA^(key): /kənˈdɪʃən/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃən

Noun

condition (countable and uncountable, plural conditions)

1. A logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false.
2. A requirement 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. (law) 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.

   Synonym: fettle

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

5. A certain abnormal state of health; a malady or sickness.
6. The 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 222716698, 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.

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.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing Various Matters”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar […], OCLC 928184292, 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.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• conditional
• condition of carriage
• precondition

Related terms

• condition subsequent
• in condition
• statement of condition

Translations

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. […], volume II, 4th edition, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1846, OCLC 223285971, 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.
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 1015511273, 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 37026674, 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 4723457, 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.

Derived terms

• air-condition
• conditioner
• precondition
• recondition

Translations

French condition definition

Etymology

From Middle French condition, from Old French condicion, borrowed from Latin condiciō, condiciōnis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.di.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

condition f (plural conditions)

1. term, condition
2. condition, state

   en bonne condition ― In good 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.

Derived terms

• à condition que
• à condition de
• condition sine qua non
• condition suffisante
• conditionnel
• conditions de vie
• condition nécessaire

Descendants

• → Turkish: kondisyon

Further reading

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

Middle French condition definition

Etymology

From Old French condicion, from Latin condicio.

Noun

condition f (plural conditions)

1. condition (state, quality)

Descendants

• French: condition