a. and sb. [ME. condicionel, a. OF. condicionel (now conditionnel), ad. L. condiciōnāl-em, f. condiciōn-: see CONDITION sb. and -AL.]
A. adj. I. generally.
1. Subject to, depending on, or limited by, one or more conditions; not absolute; made or granted on certain terms or stipulations.
Conditional immortality: the theological doctrine that human immortality is conditional upon faith in Christ, Conditional sale: a sale of which the completion or binding effect depends upon the performance of certain conditions; a sale with the provision that the vendor may resume proprietorship on certain conditions.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 344. Bileve, þat stondiþ in general wordis and in condicionel wordis.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. T., 430. If his [God’s] wityng streyneth neuer a deel But by necessitee condicioneel [v.r. -el].
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 511. Of inforced sinne they make two sorts: whereof they call one absolute, the other conditionall.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. viii. 4. Onely to sweare a Conditionall Fealtie.
1682. Scarlett, Exchanges, 75. A Possessor of a Bill may protest against a limitted and conditional Acceptance.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman, I. xix. 183. The promises are really not absolute but conditional.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 172. A kind of conditional sale system; machines are bought, and what is stranger, furnished, on trial.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, IV. xxvi. (1878), 425. The belief in Conditional Immortality lingered in the churches … for several centuries after the time of Athanasius.
b. Const. on.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. ii. The son’s inheritance is made conditional on marrying a girl … who is now a marriageable young woman.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. I. ix. 93. The king had made the return of his favour conditional on Becket’s behaviour.
2. Of or pertaining to condition, expressing a condition: see 5–8 below.
† 3. Of or pertaining to one’s condition or social status. Obs.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. (1682), 425. Their conditional vertues [are] semblable to their last and longest Conquerors.
4. Existing under conditions and limitations; subject to circumstances.
1837. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 79. In this very conditional world … he that thinks least will live the longest.
1844. Emerson, Lect., Yng. Amer., Wks. (Bohn), II. 297. The population of the world is a conditional population … not the best, but the best that could live in the existing state.
II. specifically. 5. Logic.
Conditional judgment or proposition: one consisting of two categorical clauses, the former of which, expressing a condition introduced by if or equivalent word, is called the antecedent (in Grammar protasis), the latter, stating the conclusion, is called the consequent (apodosis). Conditional syllogism: a syllogism having a conditional proposition for its major premiss.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 418/1. Yf he tourne it from a condicional proposicion in to an affyrmatyue antecedent and consequent.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 229. These compound axiomes are called Conditionall in the common phrase of the Schooles; because, the first part is put Conditionally, not absolutely.
1725. Watts, Logic, II. ii. § 6. Conditional or hypothetical propositions are those whose parts are united by the conditional particle if.
1864. Bowen, Logic, vii. 207. A Conditional Syllogism is one of which the Major Premise, and only the Major Premise, is a Conditional Judgment.
6. Gram. Of or pertaining to the expression of a condition.
Conditional Mood or Mode: applied by Palsgrave to that form of the French verb that expresses the protasis of a conditional proposition (the Conditional of modern French being called by him ‘Potential’); in Spanish and Portuguese, applied to forms expressing both the protasis and the apodosis (‘first’ and ‘second conditional’); in modern French and Italian to that which usually expresses the apodosis only. Conditional Conjunctions: such as are used in expressing a condition, e.g., if, unless, though. Conditional Phrase: a phrase equivalent to a conditional conjunction, e.g., provided that, supposing that, etc.
1530. Palsgr., 84. Modes they have VII, the indicative … the subjunctive … the potenciall … the imperatyve … the optative … the condicional, the infinitive. Ibid. The condicional mode whiche they use whan they expresse condicion if a dede be to be done, as sy je parle.
1786. H. Tooke, Purley, 56. Those words which are called conditional conjunctions, are to be accounted for in all languages … as I have accounted for If and An.
1861. Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr. (ed. 2), App. 476. The conditional mood has a form of its own, but the conjunctive particles are used as auxiliaries.
1877. Bain, Comp. Higher Gram., 148. The conditional clause is introduced by ‘if.’
1879. Roby, Lat. Gram., II. 209. Conditional sentences … sometimes the conditional particle is not expressed.
7. Law.
Conditional estate: an estate held upon conditions precedent or subsequent, by the non-performance whereof it is defeated. Conditional fee: ‘a fee restrained to some particular heirs, exclusive of others’ (Blackstone). Conditional limitation: a condition in a grant or device, the non-fulfilment of which will cause the property to pass to a third party. Also (in sense 1) conditional obligation, pardon, surrender, etc.
1552. Huloet, Condicionall possession, or state, Possessio fiduciaria.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 161. Another similar conditional estate, created by operation of law, for security and satisfaction of debts, is called an estate by elegit. Ibid., II. 369. If the surrender be conditional, and the presentment be absolute, both the surrender, presentment, and admittance thereupon are wholly void. Ibid. (1769), IV. 394. A pardon may also be conditional … the king … may annex to his bounty a condition either precedent or subsequent.
1827. J. J. Powell, Devises (ed. 3), II. 285. The clause ceased to be merely a condition of forfeiture, and became a conditional limitation.
1864. Serjt. Manning, in Athenæum, 27 Feb., 302/2. For more than two centuries after the Norman Conquest, if land were given to A. and the heirs of his body, A. was said to acquire a conditional fee. A child being born, the condition was fulfilled, and A, the donee, became absolute owner, and could dispose of the estate as freely as if it had originally been conveyed to him in fee simple.
8. Math. Applied to equations that state the conditions.
1841. J. R. Young, Math. Dissert., ii. 61. The conditional equations themselves are equally undeterminate.
B. sb. (elliptical uses of the adj.)
1. A word or clause expressing a condition.
a. 1533. Frith, Wks., 71 (R.). The text hath not that conditional, although I was contented to take it at your handes to see what you could prove.
1873. R. Black, trans. Guizot’s France, II. xxv. 479. A peace, which, in spite of some conditionals favourable to France, left the principal and fatal consequences … to take full effect.
2. Gram. A conditional conjunction; the conditional mood of the verb.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., F, Conditionals as si, Aduersatiues, as Aunque … will haue a subiunctiue.
1609. W. Sclater, Threef. Preservative (1610), B iv a. Copulatives somtimes haue force of conditionals.
1671. H. M., trans. Erasmus’ Colloq., 85. Now we will vary them by Subjunctives or conditionals.
Mod. The Conditional is the imperfect of the Future.
3. Logic. A conditional proposition or syllogism.
1828. Whately, Rhet., in Encycl. Metrop., 258/1. Adopting the form of a Destructive Conditional.
1867. Atwater, Logic, 104. As has been shown before also, Disjunctives may be turned into Conditionals.
