American Heritage Dictionary Entry: condition HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com con·di·tion (kən-dĭshən) Share: Tweet n. 1. a. A mode or state of being: We bought a used boat in excellent condition. See Synonyms at state. b. conditions Existing circumstances: Economic conditions have improved. The news reported the latest weather conditions. c. Archaic Social position; rank. 2. a. A state of health: Has the patient's condition deteriorated? b. A state of physical fitness: Have you exercised enough to get back into condition? c. A disease or physical ailment: a heart condition. 3. a. One that is indispensable to the appearance or occurrence of another; a prerequisite: Compatibility is a condition of a successful marriage. b. One that restricts or modifies another; a qualification: I'll make you a promise but with one condition. 4. a. Grammar The dependent clause of a conditional sentence; protasis. b. Logic A proposition on which another proposition depends; the antecedent of a conditional proposition. 5. Law a. A provision making the effect of a legal instrument contingent on the occurrence of an uncertain future event. b. The event itself. tr.v. con·di·tioned, con·di·tion·ing, con·di·tions 1. a. To make dependent on a condition or conditions: Use of the cabin is conditioned on your keeping it clean. b. To stipulate as a condition: “He only conditioned that the marriage should not take place before his return” (Jane Austen). 2. a. To cause to be in a certain condition; shape or influence: “Our modern conceptions of historiography [are] conditioned by Western intellectual traditions” (Carol Meyers). b. To accustom (oneself or another) to something; adapt: had to condition herself to long hours of hard work; conditioned the troops to marches at high altitudes. c. To render fit for work or use: spent weeks conditioning the old car. d. To improve the physical fitness of (the body, for example), as through repeated sessions of strenuous physical activity. e. Psychology To cause (an organism) to respond in a specific manner to a previously unrelated stimulus, as in operant conditioning or classical conditioning. 3. To treat (the air in a room, for example) by air-conditioning. 4. To replace moisture or oils in (hair, for example) by use of a therapeutic product. [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 the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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