precondition
/priːkənˈdɪʃ(ə)n
/noun
A condition that must be fulfilled before other things can happen or be done: a precondition for peace...
- It would appear to us that a concern for the fate of humanity - including how and under what physical and mental conditions masses of people live - must be a precondition for advanced art today.
- At the top of his to-do list is stabilizing the Philadelphia school district's chronically unstable finances, which he describes as the essential precondition for all other reforms.
- The necessary precondition for a functioning democracy is not just minimal outright poverty, but a reasonable degree of similarity between the life and life prospects of the citizens.
Synonyms
prerequisite, necessary condition, obligatory condition, essential condition, condition, requirement, necessity, essential, necessary thing, imperative, stipulation, proviso;
Latin sine qua non
informal must
verb [with object]
1Condition (an action) to happen in a certain way: enquiries are always preconditioned by cultural assumptions
1.1Condition or influence (a person or animal) by exposing them to stimuli or information prior to the relevant behavioural situation: [with object and infinitive]: the anthropologist is not preconditioned to interact with those he studies (as noun preconditioning) the protective effect of preconditioning...
- We are preconditioned to believe that a photograph tells the truth.
- It is not easy to break free from the grip of anarchophilia because we are preconditioned to think of the international system in anarchic terms.
- I was preconditioned to detest him when he came to office.
2Bring (something) into the desired state for use: (as adjective preconditioned) preconditioned paper...
- Elsewhere, external deficit financing is facing the axe due to loan preconditions the government cannot meet on time.
- For surely such intimacy preconditions the viewer's response and makes it more difficult to assess the work objectively.
- You know, what he is doing is preconditioning the potential jurors, or in really simple English, he's tainting the jury pool.