reason
/ˈɹiːzən/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms reasons reasoning reasoned rasen raisen raysin raison
- noun That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause. “The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.”
- noun A motive for an action or a determination. “He made reason with his boss about taking a day off.”
- noun An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
- noun (logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
- noun (uncountable) Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition. “Mankind should develop reason above all other virtues.”
- noun (obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
- noun (mathematics, obsolete) Ratio; proportion.
- verb (intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational.
- verb (intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) To converse; to compare opinions.
- verb (ambitransitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss. “I reasoned the matter with my friend.”
- verb (transitive, rare) To support with reasons, as a request.
- verb (transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument. “to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan”
- verb (transitive, with down) To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons. “to reason down a passion”
- verb (transitive, usually with out) To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument. “to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon”
- noun A wall plate.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
occasion rationale motive excuse that which causes ratiocinate ground understanding intellect rationality reasonableness cause grounds reason out conclude argue
Etymology
From Middle English resoun, reson, from Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin ratiō, from ratus, past participle of reor (“reckon”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁- (“to think”), reanalysed root of *h₂er- (“to put together”). Displaced native Middle English reden (found in compounds), from Old English rǣden (“condition, stipulation, calculation, direction”), from the same Proto-Indo-European source (compare West Frisian reden (“reason”), Dutch reden (“reason”)). Doublet of ration and ratio.
From Middle English reason, reson, resen, rasen, from Old English ræsn (“beam, rafter, ceiling, wall panel”), probably from Proto-West Germanic *raʀn (“house”), from Proto-Germanic *razną (“house, dwelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₁- (“to rest”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; a just ground for a conclusion or an action; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation; the efficient cause of an occurrence or a phenomenon; a motive for an action or a determination; proof, more or less decisive, for an opinion or a conclusion; principle; efficient cause; final cause; ground of argument.
- noun The faculty of capacity of the human mind by which it is distinguished from the intelligence of the inferior animals; the higher as distinguished from the lower cognitive faculties, sense, imagination, and memory, and in contrast to the feelings and desires.
- verb To exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts.
- verb Hence: To carry on a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to formulate and set forth propositions and the inferences from them; to argue.
Etymology [OE. resoun, F. raison, fr. L. ratio (akin to Goth. rapj number, account, garapjan to count, G. rede speech, reden to speak), fr. reri, ratus, to reckon, believe, think. Cf. Arraign, Rate, Ratio, Ration.]
Etymology [Cf. F. raisonner. See Reason, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “reason”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details