reason
See also: Reason
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin ratiō, from ratus, past participle of reor (“reckon”). Doublet of ration and ratio.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɹiːzən/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iːzən
- Hyphenation: rea‧son
Noun
reason (countable and uncountable, plural reasons)
- A cause:
- That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
- The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.
- 1996, Daniel Clement Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, page 198:
- There is a reason why so many should be symmetrical: The selective advantage in a symmetrical complex is enjoyed by all the subunits […]
- A motive for an action or a determination.
- The reason I robbed the bank was that I needed the money.
- If you don't give me a reason to go with you, I won't.
- 1806, Anonymous, Select Notes to Book XXI, in, Alexander Pope, translator, The Odyssey of Homer, volume 6 (London, F.J. du Roveray), page 37:
- This is the reason why he proposes to offer a libation, to atone for the abuse of the day by their diversions.
- 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, chapter 10:
- Ralph Touchett, for reasons best known to himself, had seen fit to say that Gilbert Osmond was not a good fellow […]
- 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.
- 1966, Graham Greene, The Comedians (Penguin Classics edition, →ISBN, page 14:
- I have forgotten the reason he gave for not travelling by air. I felt sure that it was not the correct reason, and that he suffered from a heart trouble which he kept to himself.
- 1966, Graham Greene, The Comedians (Penguin Classics edition, →ISBN, page 14:
- (logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
- That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
- (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.
- 1970, Hannah Arendt, On Violence →ISBN, page 62:
- And the specific distinction between man and beast is now, strictly speaking, no longer reason (the lumen naturale of the human animal) but science […]
- 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:
- The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.
- (obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
- 16th century Edmund Spenser, Lines on his Promised Pension
- I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme.
- 16th century Edmund Spenser, Lines on his Promised Pension
- (mathematics, obsolete) Ratio; proportion.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Barrow to this entry?)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun reason
- age of reason
- for some reason
- for no good reason
- for XYZ reason
- have reason
- in reason
- instrumental reason
- reasonability
- reasonable
- reasonableness
- reasonist
- reasonless
- rhyme or reason
- stand to reason
- unreason
- with reason
- within reason
Translations
that which causes: a cause
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motive for an action or determination
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excuse, explanation: thought or consideration offered in support of a determination
(the capacity of the human mind for) rational thinking
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math: ratio, proportion — see ratio
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked: "translations to be checked: "due exercise of the reasoning faculty""
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked: "basic meaning "cause""
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Verb
reason (third-person singular simple present reasons, present participle reasoning, simple past and past participle reasoned)
- (intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
- 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band
- "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. […] "
- 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band
- (intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
- 1853, Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
- Still my spirit was not broken. I indulged the anticipation of escape, and that speedily. It was impossible, I reasoned, that men could be so unjust as to detain me as a slave, when the truth of my case was known
- 1853, Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
- (intransitive, obsolete) To converse; to compare opinions.
- (transitive, intransitive) 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.
- 1901, Ralph Connor, The Man from Glengarry Chapter 9
- The talk was mainly between Aleck and Murdie, the others crowding eagerly about and putting in a word as they could. Murdie was reasoning good-humoredly, Aleck replying fiercely.
- (transitive, rare) To support with reasons, as a request.
- (transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument.
- to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan
- 1816, Jane Austen, Emma Volume 2/Chapter 10
- That she was not immediately ready, Emma did suspect to arise from the state of her nerves; she had not yet possessed the instrument long enough to touch it without emotion; she must reason herself into the power of performance; and Emma could not but pity such feelings, whatever their origin, and could not but resolve never to expose them to her neighbour again.
- (transitive, with down) To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.
- to reason down a passion
- (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
Derived terms
Terms derived from the verb “reason”
- reason down
- reasoner
- reason out
Translations
to deduce by being rational
to perform a process of deduction or of induction
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to converse; to compare opinions
to arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine, debate, discuss — see debate
to persuade by reasoning
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Further reading
- reason at OneLook Dictionary Search
- reason in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- reason in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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