conditional a compound sentence, such as ‘if Abe calls, then Ben answers,’ in which one sentence, the antecedent, is connected to a second, the consequent, by the connective ‘i. . . then’. Propositions (statements, etc.) expressed by conditionals are called conditional propositions (statements, etc.) and, by ellipsis, simply conditionals. The ambiguity of the expression ‘i. . . then’ gives rise to a semantic classification of conditionals into material conditionals, causal conditionals, counterfactual conditionals, and so on. In traditional logic, conditionals are called hypotheticals, and in some areas of mathematical logic conditionals are called implications. Faithful analysis of the meanings of conditionals continues to be investigated and intensely disputed. See also CORRESPONDING CONDITIONAL , COUNTERFACTUALS , IMPLICATION , PROPOSI – TION , TRUTH TABL. J.Cor.