Subcondition

Subcondition is a term used in several domains to describe a condition that is subordinate to a primary condition. It represents an additional criterion that must be satisfied for the overall outcome to occur, or for a rule to apply, beyond the initial condition.

In logic and mathematics, subconditions appear in compound statements where the truth of one part depends on another. In practice, analyses often treat a secondary requirement as a subcondition of the main condition, refining when a statement holds true.

In computing and information systems, subconditions are common in conditional logic, access control, and form validation. For example, a user may be allowed to perform an action only if they are authenticated and have the appropriate permission; the permission check is a subcondition of the authentication check in that scenario. Similarly, a form may be submitted only if the data is well-formed and the user meets age or status requirements.

Terminology varies by field, and some sources refer to such checks as nested or dependent conditions rather than “subconditions.” Subconditions are related to preconditions, prerequisites, constraints, and their role is to refine when a primary condition leads to an outcome.

See also: precondition, prerequisite, constraint, nested condition, conditional statement.