conditioner

American  

[kuhn-dish-uh-ner] / kənˈdɪʃ ə nər /

noun

• conditioners
  plural

1. a person or thing that conditions.

2. something added to a substance to increase its usability, as a water softener.

3. a cream or liquid preparation applied to the hair or skin, especially for its emollient qualities.

4. a trainer of athletes.

5. an air conditioner.

6. Textiles. a person who conditions fibers or fabrics.

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conditioner British  

/ kənˈdɪʃənə /

noun

1. a person or thing that conditions

2. a substance, esp a cosmetic, applied to something to improve its condition

   hair conditioner

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• conditioners
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of conditioner

First recorded in 1590–1600; condition + -er ¹

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Explanation

The job of a conditioner is to make something soft. If you use conditioner after you shampoo your hair, it will feel smoother and softer. Hair conditioner is just one kind of conditioner — you might also treat your laundry with conditioner, softening your clothes, or your water with a conditioner that improves its quality. Another kind of conditioner is one that gets you physically into condition, or fitness. This might be an exercise or a teacher or trainer who instructs you in doing the exercise. Conditioner comes from the Old French condicion, "state or behavior," from the Latin condicionem, "situation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conditioner conditioners

Back in her little Beijing flat, Yang is feeling more comfortable now that Yingwei has sorted out her problem of making the air conditioner work properly.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

“Most of the revenue comes from repair and replace, so the air conditioner goes out and you have an emergency call to get that replaced,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

SANTORINI, Greece—John Volkoff spent a half-hour inside a cave here in July, with his head tilted sideways under the ceiling and the temperature rising because his 6-foot-3 frame was blocking the air conditioner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

"A typical portable air conditioner adds roughly 25p to 40p an hour to your electricity bill," it says.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

“See. It’s fine. I’m going to wedge a board under here and lift the air conditioner enough for you to pull Kaitlin out.”

From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau

That’s when utilities urge people to use less electricity, say, by throttling their air conditioners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

The units contained amenities including air conditioners, big-screen televisions, refrigerators, sofas and dining areas.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

A steady supply of power is vital for the air conditioners maintaining the right temperature inside Chizay's storage rooms.

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

The Chinese appliance company Midea expanded production capacity to meet demand and recently shipped 20,000 air conditioners to France in a week, the South China Morning Post says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

All the sounds were faint ones from distant traffic or from the humming of air conditioners up and down the block.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

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