1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 42 The ground-work and pre-condition of the spiritual state, in which the humanity strives after godliness.

1851 T. De Quincey Ld. Carlisle on Pope in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 235/1 Absolute truth and simplicity are demanded by all of us as pre-conditions to any sympathy with moral expressions of anger or intolerance.

1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant i. 165 The idea of God is the precondition of all thought and being.

1912 A. H. Powles tr. F. Bernhardi Germany & Next War 4 The conscious increase of our armaments is not an inevitable evil, but the most necessary precondition of our national health.

1923 J. W. Harvey tr. R. Otto Idea of Holy xi. 86 It sheds a colour..upon the life and practice that are its precondition.

1948 Sunday Pictorial 18 July 7/6 He cannot accept the lifting of the blockade as a precondition.

1974 tr. W. F. Wertheim Evol. & Revol. 211 Among the psychological preconditions for a revolution..one should include a feeling among relatively large groups that avenues towards emancipation are consistently blocked.

2000 Econ. & Philos. 16 32 He sees the stability of property as an essential precondition for capital accumulation.

1904 S. E. Mezes in Univ. Calif. Publ. Philos. I. 50 Erectness is..the matrix from which issued the germ of volitional effort, which pre-conditioned choice.

1907 Mind 16 109 Whether we regard matter and mind as being apprehended only in or as discrete characters occurring in consciousness or as existents preconditioning consciousness.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 475 Self which it itself was ineluctably preconditioned to become.

1944 V. Prewett Americas & Tomorrow xi. 266 The peoples of Latin America went into the war period preconditioned to expect exploitation and the iron heel from foreigners.

1967 M. McLuhan & Q. Fiore Medium is Massage 128 The audience had..been preconditioned by television commercials.

1971 Homes & Gardens Aug. 19 Frying pans and baking tins should then be lightly greased with oil or cooking fat to pre-condition the non-stick coating.

1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory x. 448 Delinquent behaviour seemed preconditioned by factors not imputable in justice to an offender.

2000 Diabetes (Nexis) 1 Aug. 1281 Rats were preconditioned by a combination of swimming exercise and diet to obtain a glycogen-supercompensated group [etc.].