reason

English Online Dictionary. What means reason‎? What does reason mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːzən/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ˈɹiːzn̩], [ˈɹɪjzn̩]
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): [ˈɹɪjzən]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [ˈɹi(ː)z(ə)n]
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈɹiːz(ə)n]
• Rhymes: -iːzən
• Hyphenation: rea‧son

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

reason (countable and uncountable, plural reasons)

1. A cause:
   1. That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
   2. A motive for an action or a determination.
      • 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.
   3. 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.
   4. (logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
2. (uncountable) Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
3. (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.

4. (mathematics, obsolete) Ratio; proportion.

Synonyms

• (that which causes): cause
• (motive for an action): rationale, motive
• (thought offered in support): excuse

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

reason (third-person singular simple present reasons, present participle reasoning, simple past and past participle reasoned)

1. (intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
2. (intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To converse; to compare opinions.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.
5. (transitive, rare) To support with reasons, as a request.
6. (transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument.
7. (transitive, with down) To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.

   to reason down a passion

8. (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

Translations

Etymology 2

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”).

Alternative forms

• rasen, raisen, raysin, raison

Noun

reason (plural reasons)

1. A wall plate.

Derived terms

• reason piece

Further reading

• “reason”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “reason”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “reason”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Roanes, Serano, arseno-, senora, señora