reason | | |
n. (motive) | 1. ground, reason | a rational motive for a belief or action.; "the reason that war was declared"; "the grounds for their declaration" |
| ~ rational motive | a motive that can be defended by reasoning or logical argument. |
| ~ occasion | reason.; "there was no occasion for complaint" |
| ~ account, score | grounds.; "don't do it on my account"; "the paper was rejected on account of its length"; "he tried to blame the victim but his success on that score was doubtful" |
| ~ wherefore, why | the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'. |
n. (communication) | 2. reason | an explanation of the cause of some phenomenon.; "the reason a steady state was never reached was that the back pressure built up too slowly" |
| ~ explanation, account | a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc..; "the explanation was very simple"; "I expected a brief account" |
n. (cognition) | 3. intellect, reason, understanding | the capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination.; "we are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil" |
| ~ faculty, mental faculty, module | one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind. |
n. (state) | 4. rationality, reason, reasonableness | the state of having good sense and sound judgment.; "his rationality may have been impaired"; "he had to rely less on reason than on rousing their emotions" |
| ~ saneness, sanity | normal or sound powers of mind. |
n. (communication) | 5. cause, grounds, reason | a justification for something existing or happening.; "he had no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice" |
| ~ justification | a statement in explanation of some action or belief. |
n. (cognition) | 6. reason | a fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion.; "there is reason to believe he is lying" |
| ~ fact | a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred.; "first you must collect all the facts of the case" |
| ~ indication | (medicine) a reason to prescribe a drug or perform a procedure.; "the presence of bacterial infection was an indication for the use of antibiotics" |
| ~ contraindication | (medicine) a reason that makes it inadvisable to prescribe a particular drug or employ a particular procedure or treatment. |
v. (cognition) | 7. conclude, reason, reason out | decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion.; "We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house" |
| ~ cerebrate, cogitate, think | use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments.; "I've been thinking all day and getting nowhere" |
| ~ induce | reason or establish by induction. |
| ~ deduce, derive, infer, deduct | reason by deduction; establish by deduction. |
| ~ syllogise, syllogize | reason by syllogisms. |
| ~ feel, find | come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds.; "I feel that he doesn't like me"; "I find him to be obnoxious"; "I found the movie rather entertaining" |
| ~ deduce, infer | conclude by reasoning; in logic. |
| ~ gather | conclude from evidence.; "I gather you have not done your homework" |
| ~ extrapolate, generalize, generalise, infer | draw from specific cases for more general cases. |
v. (communication) | 8. argue, reason | present reasons and arguments. |
| ~ re-argue | argue again.; "This politician will be forced into re-arguing an old national campaign" |
| ~ present, lay out, represent | bring forward and present to the mind.; "We presented the arguments to him"; "We cannot represent this knowledge to our formal reason" |
| ~ expostulate | reason with (somebody) for the purpose of dissuasion. |
| ~ defend, fend for, support | argue or speak in defense of.; "She supported the motion to strike" |
v. (cognition) | 9. reason | think logically.; "The children must learn to reason" |
| ~ cerebrate, cogitate, think | use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments.; "I've been thinking all day and getting nowhere" |
| ~ rationalise away, rationalize away | substitute a natural for a supernatural explanation of.; "you can rationalize away all the strange noises you hear--there is no poltergeist in the house!" |
| ~ theorize | form or construct theories.; "he thinks and theorizes all day" |
| ~ theorize | construct a theory about.; "Galileo theorized the motion of the stars" |
| ~ ratiocinate | reason methodologically and logically. |
| ~ calculate, compute, cipher, cypher, figure, reckon, work out | make a mathematical calculation or computation. |
| ~ categorise, categorize | place into or assign to a category.; "Children learn early on to categorize" |
| ~ speculate | talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion.; "We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal" |
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