reason
see also: Reason
Pronunciation
Reason
Proper noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.040
see also: Reason
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈɹiːzən/
reason
- A cause:
- That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
- The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.
- 1996, Daniel 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 (novel) (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 (novel) (Penguin Classics edition, ISBN 0140184945, 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 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.
- 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.
- (that which causes) cause
- (motive for an action) rationale, motive
- (thought offered in support) excuse
- French: raison, cause
- German: Grund, Ursache
- Italian: ragione, causa, perché
- Portuguese: causa, motivo, razão
- Russian: причи́на
- Spanish: razón, causa
- French: raison
- German: Verstand, Vernunft, Intellekt
- Italian: ragione
- Portuguese: razão
- Russian: ра́зум
- Spanish: razón
- Italian: ragione
reason (reasons, present participle reasoning; 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, chapter III, in [David Wilson], editor, Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative of Solomon Northrup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana, London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.; Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, OCLC 14877269 ↗, page 47 ↗:
- 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.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To converse; to compare opinions.
- (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.
- 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
- Italian: ragionare
- Portuguese: raciocinar
- Russian: рассужда́ть
- Spanish: razonar
- Italian: ragionare, argomentare
- Portuguese: argumentar, raciocinar
- Russian: проду́мать
- Italian: ragionare
Reason
Proper noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.040