conditioning
Americannoun
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conditionings
plural
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Also called operant conditioning, instrumental conditioning. a process of changing behavior by rewarding or punishing a subject each time an action is performed until the subject associates the action with pleasure or distress.
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Also called classical conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, respondent conditioning. a process in which a stimulus that was previously neutral, as the sound of a bell, comes to evoke a particular response, as salivation, by being repeatedly paired with another stimulus that normally evokes the response, as the taste of food.
noun
adjective
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Origin of conditioning
Example Sentences
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These reductions are significant because chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting compounds were once common in refrigerators, air conditioning systems, building insulation, and other everyday products.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2026
Updates include air and water filtration and conditioning systems, and a dedicated multistage reverse-osmosis drinking system.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
A recent Friday offers no salvation for the weekend ahead besides sitting in front of a fan or turning up the air conditioning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
The truck's air conditioning malfunctioned, and the temperature inside soared as it drove north to San Antonio, Texas.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
Football cheer season is almost over—two games left and then the playoffs if we make it—which means basketball preseason is in full effect: I had four hours of conditioning this morning.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
At both, the luxury treatment begins with a detailed scalp analysis followed by a neck and shoulder massage and repeated shampooings and conditionings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025
He sensed the change that possessed her, the struggling of new emotions, the shattering of imposed concepts and conditionings and their realigning to shape a new personality, a new person.
From Assignment's End by Roger D. Aycock
If we are to have a more rationalized form of social control, then, it will undoubtedly take into consideration the necessity of forming the socially desirable conditionings of the emotional life.
From Taboo and Genetics A Study of the Biological, Sociological and Psychological Foundation of the Family by Melvin Moses Knight
Francis Galton, pioneer student of the conditionings of human faculty, left an interesting study of the visualising capacity, so far as it could be attacked by the statistical method.
From The Glands Regulating Personality by Louis Berman M.D.
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