reason
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
[edit] Etymology
From Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin rationem, an accusative of ratio, from ratus, past participle of reor (“think”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
reason (plural reasons)
- a cause:
- That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
- The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.
- Unless you have a good reason for being here, I suggest you leave now.
- 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 0140184945, 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 0140184945, page 14,
- (Can we verify(+) this sense?) proof, more or less decisive, for an opinion or a 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; (roughly)
- Mankind should develop reason above all other virtues.
- 1970, Hannah Arendt, On Violence, ISBN 0156695006, 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….
- (obsolete) something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
- (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
- I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme.
- (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
- (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (obsolete) due exercise of the reasoning faculty
- (mathematics, obsolete) ratio; proportion.
[edit] Synonyms
- (that which causes): cause
- (motive for an action): rationale, motive
- (thought offered in support): excuse
[edit] Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun reason
[edit] Translations
cause
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faculty of capacity of the human mind
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due exercise of the reasoning faculty
[edit] Verb
reason (third-person singular simple present reasons, present participle reasoning, simple past and past participle reasoned)
- (intransitive) 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.
- (intransitive) 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.
- (intransitive) To converse; to compare opinions.
- (transitive) 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.
- (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
- (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
[edit] Derived terms
Terms derived from the verb “reason”
[edit] Translations
exercise the rational faculty
carry on a process of deduction or of induction
- 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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
[edit] Statistics
[edit] External links
- reason in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- reason in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
