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reason - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'reason' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Reason [ n.]
- 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.
- The faculty or 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. Reason comprises conception, judgment, reasoning, and the intuitional faculty. Specifically, it is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty.
- Due exercise of the reasoning faculty; accordance with, or that which is accordant with and ratified by, the mind rightly exercised; right intellectual judgment; clear and fair deductions from true principles; that which is dictated or supported by the common sense of mankind; right conduct; right; propriety; justice.
- Ratio; proportion.
- 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.
- 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.
- To converse; to compare opinions.
2 . Reason [ v. t.]
- To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss; as, I reasoned the matter with my friend.
- To support with reasons, as a request.
- To persuade by reasoning or argument; as, to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan.
- To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons; -- with down; as, to reason down a passion.
- To find by logical processes; to explain or justify by reason or argument; -- usually with out; as, to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon.

Meaning of 'reason' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . reason [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a justification for something existing or happening
Example in sentence:
  • he had no cause to complain;
  • they had good reason to rejoice
Meaning (2):
- the state of having good sense and sound judgment
Example in sentence:
  • he had to rely less on reason than on rousing their emotions;
  • his rationality may have been impaired
Meaning (3):
- a rational motive for a belief or action
Example in sentence:
  • the grounds for their declaration;
  • the reason that war was declared
Meaning (4):
- an explanation of the cause of some phenomenon
Example in sentence:
  • the reason a steady state was never reached was that the back pressure built up too slowly
Meaning (5):
- a fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion
Example in sentence:
  • there is reason to believe he is lying
Meaning (6):
- the capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination
Example in sentence:
  • we are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil
7 . reason [ v]
Meaning (7):
- think logically
Example in sentence:
  • The children must learn to reason
Meaning (8):
- decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion
Example in sentence:
  • We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house

Nearby Words:

reabsorb reabsorption reaccess reaccuse reach reachable reached reacher reaching reachless

See 'reason' also in:

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