sine qua non

noun

si·​ne qua non ˌsi-ni-ˌkwä-ˈnän  -ˈnōn 

 also  ˌsē-;

 also  ˌsī-ni-ˌkwā-ˈnän

plural sine qua nons also sine quibus non -ˌkwi-(ˌ)bu̇s- 

 also  -ˌkwī-

: something absolutely indispensable or essential

reliability is a sine qua non for success

Did you know?

Sine qua non can be translated literally as "Without which, not." Though this may sound like gibberish, it means more or less "Without (something), (something else) won't be possible." Sine qua non sounds slightly literary, and it shouldn't be used just anywhere. But it actually shows up in many contexts, including business ("A solid customer base is the sine qua non to success"), show business ("A good agent is a sine qua non for an actor's career"), and politics ("His support was really the sine qua non for her candidacy").

Synonyms

• condition
• demand
• essential
• must
• must-have
• necessary
• necessity
• need
• needful
• requirement
• requisite

Examples of sine qua non in a Sentence

Patience is a sine qua non for this job.

an extensive grounding in mathematics is a sine qua non for a career in architecture

Recent Examples on the Web

As research makes clear, substantial flexibility is the sine qua non for employee engagement. —Gleb Tsipursky, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2023

The research team determined that the finger holes had been made with a flint tool so precise that the holes could be sealed with a fingertip, the sine qua non of wind instruments. —Franz Lidz, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2023

Oil is literally the basis of globalization, the sine qua non of human physical interaction. —Jude Clemente, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2023

This has become Haugen’s emphatic sine qua non, her non-negotiable clause in every contract, whether business or personal. —Gabriela Riccardi, Quartz, 6 July 2023

If, as virtually all reformers stress, a primary goal of a Supreme Court ethics reform exercise is to energize Congress to rebalance constitutional and political relations between Article I legislators and Article III judges, then codifying that power shift is a sine qua non. —Simon Lazarus, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2023

Obviously, the funding is a sine qua non for the project, but the federal government appears to have rediscovered large-scale infrastructure investment, evidenced by last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will provide $550 billion over five years. —Tom Condon, Hartford Courant, 6 Jan. 2023

That last one is a sine qua non. —Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Nov. 2022

Because he wasn’t built for life on land, Bunky lacked the sine qua non of frogdom: the ability to jump. —Anne Fadiman, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Feb. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Late Latin, without which not

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined above