unconditioned

American  

[uhn-kuhn-dish-uhnd] / ˌʌn kənˈdɪʃ ənd /

adjective

1. not subject to conditions; absolute.

2. Psychology. not proceeding from or dependent on a conditioning of the individual; natural; innate.

   unconditioned behavior.

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unconditioned British  

/ ˌʌnkənˈdɪʃənd /

adjective

1. psychol characterizing an innate reflex and the stimulus and response that form parts of it Compare conditioned

2. metaphysics unrestricted by conditions; infinite; absolute

3. without limitations; unconditional

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Other Word Forms

• unconditionedness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of unconditioned

First recorded in 1625–35; un- ¹ + conditioned

Explanation

An unconditioned behavior is not brought about by learning. Sneezing is an unconditioned behavior. Unconditioned also means without conditions, as in unconditioned love, which is love that will always be, even if your mate starts wearing socks with sandals. There are two sense of unconditioned, but they both involve things that happen regardless of outside events. An unconditioned behavior is innate — babies aren't taught (or conditioned) to cry, so that behavior is unconditioned. Other uses of unconditioned mean that something has no conditions and could last forever, like unconditioned peace, or even an unconditioned agreement that will be honored in any circumstances. No conditions can stop it.

Example Sentences

He will be unconditioned in what he chooses to interpret as Iranian surrender.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026

Although it is thought by some scientists that the unconditioned and conditioned responses are identical, even Pavlov discovered that the saliva in the conditioned dogs had characteristic differences when compared to the unconditioned dog.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

And they reply to injustice and repression not by resistance or retaliation, but with an utterly new, unconditioned response that leaves the reader lightheaded, transcending even that which we value as “freedom.”

From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2018

“The voice is silence … it is a voice that is unconditioned, like a horse standing still.”

From The Guardian • Dec. 25, 2017

It is the deduction of the concrete and empirical moral agent—the actual ego of actual life—from the abstract, unconditioned ego, which in order to be actual must condescend to be at once determining and determined.

From Hegel's Philosophy of Mind by Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich