necessary condition

Cultural

In mathematics, a condition that must be satisfied for a statement to be true, but that does not in and of itself make it true. For example, a necessary condition to become president of the United States is that a candidate be over thirty-five years of age, but just being over thirty-five does not make one president.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They were told there was one necessary condition for winning the election: a good economy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

"Reducing inflation was a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient."

From Barron's • Oct. 22, 2025

And so it's not a sufficient condition, but it's a necessary condition.

From Salon • May 25, 2024

The team concludes from this that B cells in the thymus are a necessary condition for immune tolerance regarding AQP4.

From Science Daily • Feb. 21, 2024

“You do understand that a necessary condition for ambush is surprise?”

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023