Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mode or state of being: synonym: state.
  • noun Existing circumstances.
  • noun Archaic Social position; rank.
  • noun A state of health.
  • noun A state of physical fitness.
  • noun A disease or physical ailment.
  • noun One that is indispensable to the appearance or occurrence of another; a prerequisite.
  • noun One that restricts or modifies another; a qualification.
  • noun Grammar The dependent clause of a conditional sentence; protasis.
  • noun Logic A proposition on which another proposition depends; the antecedent of a conditional proposition.
  • noun A provision making the effect of a legal instrument contingent on the occurrence of an uncertain future event.
  • noun The event itself.
  • transitive verb To make dependent on a condition or conditions.
  • transitive verb To stipulate as a condition.
  • transitive verb To cause to be in a certain condition; shape or influence:
  • transitive verb To accustom (oneself or another) to something; adapt.
  • transitive verb To render fit for work or use.
  • transitive verb To improve the physical fitness of (the body, for example), as through repeated sessions of strenuous physical activity.
  • transitive verb Psychology To cause (an organism) to respond in a specific manner to a conditioned stimulus in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus.
  • transitive verb To treat (the air in a room, for example) by air-conditioning.
  • transitive verb To replace moisture or oils in (hair, for example) by use of a therapeutic product.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To form a condition or prerequisite of; determine or govern.
  • To subject to something as a condition; make dependent or conditional on: with on or upon: as, he conditioned his forgiveness upon repentance.
  • In metaphysics, to place or cognize under conditions.
  • To stipulate; contract; arrange.
  • In mercantile language, to test (a commodity) in order to ascertain its condition; specifically, to test (silk) in order to know the proportion of moisture it contains.
  • To require (a student) to be reëxamined, after failure to show the attainment of a required degree of scholarship, as a condition of remaining in the class or college, or of receiving a degree. See condition, n., 9.
  • noun The particular mode of being of a person or thing; situation, with reference either to internal or to external circumstances; existing state or case; plight; circumstances.
  • noun Quality; property; attribute; characteristic.
  • noun A state or characteristic of the mind; a habit; collectively, ways; disposition; temper.
  • noun Rank; state, with respect to the orders or grades of society or to property: used absolutely in the sense of high rank: as, a person of condition.
  • noun A requisite; something the non-concurrence or non-fulfilment of which would prevent a result from taking place; a prerequisite.
  • noun Hence A restricting or limiting circumstance; a restriction or limitation.
  • noun A stipulation; a statement of terms; an agreement or consideratíon demanded or offered in return for something to be granted or done, as in a bargain, treaty, or other engagement.
  • noun In law: A statement that a thing is or shall be, which constitutes the essential basis or an essential part of the basis of a contract or grant; a future and uncertain act or event not belonging to the very nature of the transaction, on the performance or happening of which the legal consequences of the transaction are made to depend.
  • noun In civil law, a restriction incorporated with an act, the consequence of which is to make the effect of the volition or intention dependent wholly or in part upon an external circumstance.
  • noun In a college or school: The requirement, made of a student upon failure to reach a certain standard of scholarship, as in an examination, that a new examination be passed before he can be advanced in a given course or study, or can receive a degree: as, a condition in mathematics.
  • noun The study to which such requirement is attached: as, he has six conditions to make up.
  • noun In grammar, the protasis or conditional clause of a conditional sentence. See conditional sentence, under conditional.
  • noun In the theory of errors, an equation expressing an observation with the conditions under which it was taken.
  • noun Article, terms, provision, arrangement.
  • In the tobacco trade, to spray with a 2-per-cent. solution of glycerin. This operation is performed only on chewing, plug, and cigarette tobaccos.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Mode or state of being; state or situation with regard to external circumstances or influences, or to physical or mental integrity, health, strength, etc.; predicament; rank; position, estate.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English condicioun, from Old French condicion, from Late Latin conditiō, conditiōn-, alteration of Latin condiciō, from condīcere, to agree : com-, com- + dīcere, to talk; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin conditiō, noun of action from perfect passive participle conditus, + noun of action suffix -io.

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Examples

  • "The country is in such a condition, that if we delay longer some fair measure of reform, sufficient at least to satisfy the more moderate, and much more, if we refuse all reform whatsoever -- I say, if _we adopt so unwise a policy, the country is in such a condition_ that we may precipitate a revolution."

    How to Write Clearly Rules and Exercises on English Composition Edwin A. Abbott

  • In general, _an interest is an unsatisfied capacity, corresponding to an unrealized condition, and it is predisposition to such rearrangement as would tend to realize the indicated condition_.

    Introduction to the Science of Sociology Robert Ezra Park 1926

  • If any doubt about the valid administration is left, the infant after delivery should be carefully baptized _under condition_, as it is called; that is, with the condition added that, if the former ceremony was validly conferred, there is no intention of giving a second baptism.

    Moral Principles and Medical Practice The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence Charles Coppens 1877

  • Matters went on pretty well with us until my master was seized with a severe fit of illness, in consequence of which his literary scheme was completely defeated, and his condition in life materially injured; of course, the glad tones of encouragement which I had been accustomed to hear were changed into expressions of condolence, and sometimes assurances of unabated friendship; but then it must be remembered that I, the handsomest blue coat, was _still in good condition_, and it will perhaps appear, that if I were not my master's

    The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 262, July 7, 1827 Various

  • _condition precedent_; -- but the meeting disregard it -- reject the condition, and gravely resolve to accept _a resignation_, which had not yet been tendered to them.

    A Review and Exposition, of the Falsehoods and Misrepresentations, of a Pamphlet Addressed to the Republicans of the County of Saratoga, Signed, "A Citizen" An Elector

  • The fill level can be indicative of the temperature at which a wine was stored, and the label condition can be a sign of whether or not a wine was professionally stored.

    Investing in Liquid Assets David Sokolin 2008

  • The fill level can be indicative of the temperature at which a wine was stored, and the label condition can be a sign of whether or not a wine was professionally stored.

    Investing in Liquid Assets David Sokolin 2008

  • Johnston's response said his mother's "chronic pain condition is currently being managed in coordination with the Department of Corrections."

    Bristol Palin-Levi Johnston child custody fight goes public 2009

  • The win condition is that when you get news of something terrible happening to someone who smeared Ben Gay all over your friend's locker or pushed another friend down the stairs or any of the other lovely things that happened in high school, you are not glad.

    Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway 2008

  • The win condition is that you can only remember the names of the ones who were kind and/or interesting to you.

    Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway 2008

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