- condition
- condition n 1 Condition, stipulation, terms, provision, proviso, reservation, strings are comparable when meaning something that is established or is regarded as the prerequisite of a promise or agreement being fulfilled or taking effect.Condition implies the laying down of something as a prerequisite which must be observed or satisfied if the validity of the whole agreement, promise, dispensation, or gift is not to be destroyed{
he was to go to Oxford or Cambridge ... if he succeeded in gaining a scholarship
}{That was the condition his father had laid down— Archibald Marshall
}{though they regarded the diplomatic service as a preserve for their younger sons, they attached to it the condition that no youth should be eligible for it without a private income of four hundred a year— Shaw
}{just had to keep writing—writing was a profession, a way of life, a condition of his survival— Anderson
}Stipulation differs from condition chiefly in implying a formal, explicit, and often written statement (as a contract) binding a party thereto to a specified course{he made the stipulation that payments be in gold
}{one consequence of this contract by the law that governed it and by the stipulation of the lessor was that if the lessee held over he held over for a year— Justice Holmes
}{a stipulation is a statement of conditions that are agreed to in the conduct of some affair— Kaufmann
}Terms indicates conditions offered or agreed upon by one or both parties to a contract, agreement, or deal; thus, two parties may come to terms (i.e., may agree upon such a matter as work to be done, prices to be paid, or a division of property){only a general of repute could get recruits, and for that service he could make his own terms— Buchan
}{the terms of the lease are not harsh— Montague
}{a certain despair of her ever understanding . . . the terms of a contract— Mary Austin
}Provision applies chiefly to a documentary statement which provides measures for the treatment of certain matters legally{the admission of Arkansas with a provision in its constitution forbidding the abolition of slavery without the consent of the slaveowners— L. B. Evans
}{according to the provisions of the constitution the state courts have no jurisdiction in this controversy
}It may be specifically used of a clause or of a part of such a document or of a document that is comparable in laying down a condition or making a stipulation{into his will he wrote a provision that all of his children should accept his decision regarding the disposal of his property on pain of being disinherited
}Proviso denotes a condition or a stipulation, especially one that is clearly stated and binding passionate feeling is desirable, provided it is not destructive; intellect is desirable, with the same proviso— Russell{it is because the practical businessman always forgets this proviso that he is such a hopeless idiot politically— Shaw
}Reservation indicates a qualification or modification of the terms of an agreement or statement, often to cover contingencies. It may become a stipulation or proviso if the other party or parties concerned agree or acquiesce{she [Spain] had already in the treaty of Madrid promised to leave the Valtelline, but with such reservations that she could still hold on— Belloc
}or it may be avowed only to oneself (mental reservation) in evading the generally understood sense of a promise or an oath or other statement that one is impelled to make for reasons of necessity or expediency{the issues that won him most votes were issues that, at bottom, he didn't believe in; there was always a mental reservation in his rhetoric— Mencken
}Strings suggests strands which the maker of a promise, a proposal, or an offer keeps in his hands so that he may pull them back if what he lays down as a condition or imposes as a stipulation is not kept; the term usually denotes conditions or provisos, often unexpected or concealed, that may radically alter or even annul an agreement{make me a cash offer, with no strings
}Analogous words: prerequisite, requisite, *requirement2 *state, situation, mode, posture, statusAnalogous words: circumstance, *occurrence, event: occasion, antecedent, *cause: *phase, aspect, side, facet, angle3 *disease, disorder, affection, ailment, malady, complaint, distemper, syndromecondition vb *prepare, fit, qualify, ready
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.