sine qua non

1. 1.

   a prerequisite

   Synonymsessential condition

   Broaderprerequisite

Questions about sine qua non

What does sine qua non mean?

sine qua non means "a prerequisite".

What is another word for sine qua non?

Close synonyms include essential condition. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sine qua non a common word?

sine qua non is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.