conditional

[ kuhn-dish-uh-nl ]

/ kənˈdɪʃ ə nl /

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See synonyms for: conditional / conditionally on Thesaurus.com

adjective

imposing, containing, subject to, or depending on a condition or conditions; not absolute; made or allowed on certain terms: conditional acceptance.

Grammar. (of a sentence, clause, mood, or word) involving or expressing a condition, as the first clause in the sentence If it rains, he won't go.

Logic.

(of a proposition) asserting that the existence or occurrence of one thing or event depends on the existence or occurrence of another thing or event; hypothetical.
(of a syllogism) containing at least one conditional proposition as a premise.

Mathematics. (of an inequality) true for only certain values of the variable, as x + 3 > 0 is only true for real numbers greater than −3.Compare absolute (def. 12).

noun

Grammar.

(in some languages) a mood, tense, or other category used in expressing conditions, often corresponding to an English verb phrase beginning with would, as Spanish comería “he would eat.”
a sentence, clause, or word expressing a condition.

OTHER WORDS FOR conditional

1 dependent, contingent, relative.

See synonyms for conditional on Thesaurus.com

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of conditional

1350–1400; Middle English condicionel<Anglo-French, Middle French <Late Latin condiciōnālis, equivalent to condiciōn- (stem of condiciō) condition + -ālis-al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM conditional

con·di·tion·al·i·ty, nouncon·di·tion·al·ly, adverbnon·con·di·tion·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use conditional in a sentence

Tiles in some of the packs also introduce conditional coding concepts.
Gift Guide: 22 STEM toy gift ideas for every little builder|Natasha Lomas|November 23, 2020|TechCrunch
There are also more visualization features like conditional formatting as well as the ability to filter and sort data with dropdowns next to each field.
Google Ads Report Editor gets a new look|Ginny Marvin|October 29, 2020|Search Engine Land
On Tuesday, the Dallas Cowboys dealt defensive end Everson Griffen to the Detroit Lions for a conditional sixth-round pick.
Coronavirus protocols are impacting the NFL trade deadline — and making for earlier deals|Mark Maske|October 28, 2020|Washington Post
State officials approved the company’s acquisitions on a conditional basis in 2016, while imposing a three-year monitoring regime that health department officials describe as unprecedented.
Investors Extracted $400 Million From a Hospital Chain That Sometimes Couldn’t Pay for Medical Supplies or Gas for Ambulances|by Peter Elkind with Doris Burke|September 30, 2020|ProPublica

In other words, unemployment payments may be exacerbating unemployment because they are conditional on not being employed.
How to Prevent Another Great Depression (Ep. 421)|Stephen J. Dubner|June 11, 2020|Freakonomics
But the land could be sold conditionally, and once more Miss Montgomery suggested building.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
The club consented conditionally on the "new fellows" being peaceable.
The Leaven in a Great City|Lillian William Betts
This sentence is sometimes translated conditionally: "provided we look," etc.
Expositor's Bible: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians|James Denney
"I thought so," I said, with the relief that one feels in not having put a fellow-creature out of life, even conditionally.
Questionable Shapes|William Dean Howells
But there is no statement anywhere that the Law is given to Israel conditionally and that it will ever be taken away from them.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy|Isaac Husik

British Dictionary definitions for conditional

conditional

/ (kənˈdɪʃənəl) /

adjective

depending on other factors; not certain

grammar (of a clause, conjunction, form of a verb, or whole sentence) expressing a condition on which something else is contingent: " If he comes " is a conditional clause in the sentence " If he comes I shall go "

(of an equation or inequality) true for only certain values of the variable: x ² –1 = x + 1 is a conditional equation, only true for x = 2 or –1
(of an infinite series) divergent when the absolute values of the terms are considered

Also: hypothetical logic (of a proposition) consisting of two component propositions associated by the words if…then so that the proposition is false only when the antecedent is true and the consequent false. Usually written: p → q or p ⊃ q, where p is the antecedent, q the consequent, and → or ⊃ symbolizes implies

noun

grammar

a conditional form of a verb
a conditional clause or sentence

logic a conditional proposition

Derived forms of conditional

conditionality, nounconditionally, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

conditional

OTHER WORDS FOR conditional

Origin of conditional

OTHER WORDS FROM conditional

Words related to conditional

How to use conditional in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for conditional

Derived forms of conditional