English
condition
Etymology

From Middle English condicioun, from Old French condicion (French condition), from Latin condicio.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /kənˈdɪʃn̩/
  • (America) enPR: kəndĭshʹən, IPA: /kənˈdɪʃən/
Noun

condition

  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.
      Synonyms: fettle
      My aunt couldn’t walk up the stairs in her condition.
      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.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • German: schlechter Zustand
Translations Translations Verb

condition (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).
  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.
Translations Translations Translations

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