conditioning
Americannoun
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Also called operant conditioning, instrumental conditioning. a process of changing behavior by rewarding or punishing a subject each time an action is performed until the subject associates the action with pleasure or distress.
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Also called classical conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, respondent conditioning. a process in which a stimulus that was previously neutral, as the sound of a bell, comes to evoke a particular response, as salivation, by being repeatedly paired with another stimulus that normally evokes the response, as the taste of food.
Other Word Forms
- self-conditioning adjective
Etymology
Origin of conditioning
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We did so much conditioning after practice — we all push each other.”
From Los Angeles Times
This type of deliberate exploration strengthens the argument that the cleaner wrasse's mirror behaviors reflect flexible, self-related processing rather than confusion or simple conditioning.
From Science Daily
“All I did was turn off the air conditioning,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times
Across a week, three of those gym stints are strength-based and two conditioning.
From BBC
Hernandez told police that she left the car engine on and the air conditioning running in the vehicle.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
