'Reason' definitions:

Definition of 'reason'

From: WordNet
noun
A rational motive for a belief or action; "the reason that war was declared"; "the grounds for their declaration" [syn: reason, ground]
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"
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" [syn: reason, understanding, intellect]
noun
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" [syn: rationality, reason, reasonableness]
noun
A justification for something existing or happening; "he had no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice" [syn: cause, reason, grounds]
noun
A fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion; "there is reason to believe he is lying"
verb
Decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion; "We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house" [syn: reason, reason out, conclude]
verb
Present reasons and arguments [syn: argue, reason]
verb
Think logically; "The children must learn to reason"

Definition of 'Reason'

From: GCIDE
  • Reason \Rea"son\ (r[=e]"z'n), n. [OE. resoun, F. raison, fr. L. ratio (akin to Goth. ra[thorn]j[=o] number, account, gara[thorn]jan to count, G. rede speech, reden to speak), fr. reri, ratus, to reckon, believe, think. Cf. Arraign, Rate, Ratio, Ration.]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • I'll give him reasons for it. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • The reason of the motion of the balance in a wheel watch is by the motion of the next wheel. --Sir M. Hale. [1913 Webster]
  • This reason did the ancient fathers render, why the church was called "catholic." --Bp. Pearson. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason. --P. Browne. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • By the pure reason I mean the power by which we become possessed of principles. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
  • The sense perceives; the understanding, in its own peculiar operation, conceives; the reason, or rationalized understanding, comprehends. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • The most probable way of bringing France to reason would be by the making an attempt on the Spanish West Indies. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. (Math.) Ratio; proportion. [Obs.] --Barrow. [1913 Webster]
  • 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." --Bacon.
  • In reason,
  • In all reason, in justice; with rational ground; in a right view. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • It is reason, it is reasonable; it is right. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Yet it were great reason, that those that have children should have greatest care of future times. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: Motive; argument; ground; consideration; principle; sake; account; object; purpose; design. See Motive, Sense. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Reason'

From: GCIDE
  • Reason \Rea"son\, v. t.
  • 1. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • When they are clearly discovered, well digested, and well reasoned in every part, there is beauty in such a theory. --T. Burnet. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To support with reasons, as a request. [R.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To persuade by reasoning or argument; as, to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan. [1913 Webster]
  • Men that will not be reasoned into their senses. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons; -- with down; as, to reason down a passion. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. 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. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Reason'

From: GCIDE
  • Reason \Rea"son\ (r[=e]"z'n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Reasoned (r[=e]"z'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Reasoning.] [Cf. F. raisonner. See Reason, n.]
  • 1. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • Stand still, that I may reason with you, before the Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord. --1 Sam. xii. 7. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To converse; to compare opinions. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'reason'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Reason'