Lexic.us

Definition of Reason

1. Verb. Decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion. "They reason that there was a traffic accident "; "We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house"

2. Noun. A rational motive for a belief or action. "The grounds for their declaration"

3. Verb. Present reasons and arguments. "Sam wants to reason with Sue "

4. Noun. 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"

5. Verb. Think logically. "The children must learn to reason"

6. Noun. 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"

7. Noun. The state of having good sense and sound judgment. "He had to rely less on reason than on rousing their emotions"

8. Noun. A justification for something existing or happening. "They had good reason to rejoice"

9. Noun. A fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion. "There is reason to believe he is lying"

Definition of Reason

1. 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.

2. v. i. 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.

3. 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.

Definition of Reason

1. Noun. a cause: ¹

2. Noun. rational thinking (or the capacity for it; the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition; (qualifier roughly) ¹

3. Noun. (obsolete) something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice. ¹

4. Noun. (obsolete) due exercise of the reasoning faculty ¹

5. Noun. (context: mathematics obsolete) ratio; proportion. ¹

6. Verb. (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. ¹

7. Verb. (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. ¹

8. Verb. (intransitive) To converse; to compare opinions. ¹

9. Verb. (transitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss. ¹

10. Verb. (transitive rare) To support with reasons, as a request. ¹

11. Verb. (transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument. ¹

12. Verb. (transitive with ''down'') To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons. ¹

13. Verb. (transitive usually with ''out'') To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Reason

1. to derive inferences or conclusions from known or presumed facts [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Reason

1. 1. 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. "I'll give him reasons for it." (Shak) "The reason of the motion of the balance in a wheel watch is by the motion of the next wheel." (Sir M. Hale) "This reason did the ancient fathers render, why the church was called "catholic."" (Bp. Pearson) "Virtue and vice are not arbitrary things; but there is a natural and eternal reason for that goodness and virtue, and against vice and wickedness." (Tillotson) 2. The faculty of 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. "We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason." (P. Browne) "In common and popular discourse, reason denotes that power by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and right from wrong, and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment of particular ends." (Stewart) "Reason is used sometimes to express the whole of those powers which elevate man above the brutes, and constitute his rational nature, more especially, perhaps, his intellectual powers; sometimes to express the power of deduction or argumentation." (Stewart) "By the pure reason I mean the power by which we become possessed of principles." (Coleridge) "The sense perceives; the understanding, in its own peculiar operation, conceives; the reason, or rationalized understanding, comprehends." (Coleridge) 3. 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. "I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme." (Spenser) "But law in a free nation hath been ever public reason; the enacted reason of a parliament, which he denying to enact, denies to govern us by that which ought to be our law; interposing his own private reason, which to us is no law." (Milton) "The most probable way of bringing France to reason would be by the making an attempt on the Spanish West Indies." (Addison) 4. Ratio; proportion. By reason of, by means of; on account of; because of. "Spain is thin sown of people, partly by reason of the sterility of the soil." . In reason, In all reason, in justice; with rational ground; in a right view. "When anything is proved by as good arguments as a thing of that kind is capable of, we ought not, in reason, to doubt of its existence." (Tillotson) It is reason, it is reasonable; it is right. "Yet it were great reason, that those that have children should have greatest care of future times." (Bacon) Synonym: Motive, argument, ground, consideration, principle, sake, account, object, purpose, design. See Motive, Sense. Origin: OE. Resoun, F. Raison, fr. L. Ratio (akin to Goth. Rapj number, account, garapjan to count, G. Rede speech, reden to speak), fr. Reri, ratus, to reckon, believe, think. Cf. Arraign, Rate, Ratio, Ration. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Reason

rearwardly rearwards reascend reascendance reascended reascending reascends reascension reascensions reascent

reascents reask reasked reasking reasks reason (current term) reason out reasonabilities reasonability reasonable

reasonable-person reasonable care reasonable doubt reasonable person reasonableness reasonablenesses reasonably reasoned reasoner reasoners

Literary usage of Reason

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle (1897)
"It seems that there is another natural principle of the soul which is irrational and yet in a sense partakes of reason. For in a continent or incontinent ..."

2. The Republic of Plato by Plato, Benjamin Jowett (1881)
"reason he will only accept such honours as will make him a better man; any others he will decline. ' Then,' said he, ' he will not be a politician if this ..."

3. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1846)
"No, there needs no more words about this matter, indeed ; for he that believes neither Scripture nor reason (and you see we have both on OuT side), ..."

4. An essay concerning human understanding by John Locke (1838)
"And how can it with any tolerable sense be supposed, that what was imprinted by nature, as the foundation and guide of our reason, should need the use of ..."

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