Conditional means depending on something else being met first. A conditional offer, conditional approval, conditional on funding.
A conditional offer from a university is the ordinary example, since it holds only if the grades arrive. In grammar the conditional is the form used for what would happen if something else did.
1adjectiveconditionalDepending on something else being met first.
“His job offer is conditional on passing a medical test.”
conditional is a quality.
Old French condicionel comes from Latin condicio, an agreement or stipulation.
Old French
condicionel
French
conditionnel
English, today
conditional
From French conditionnel, from Old French condicionel, equivalent to condition + -al.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA