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reason
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English Dictionary: reason by the DICT Development Group
4 results for reason
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
reason
n
  1. a rational motive for a belief or action; "the reason that war was declared"; "the grounds for their declaration"
    Synonym(s): reason, ground
  2. 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"
  3. 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"
    Synonym(s): reason, understanding, intellect
  4. 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"
    Synonym(s): rationality, reason, reasonableness
  5. a justification for something existing or happening; "he had no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice"
    Synonym(s): cause, reason, grounds
  6. a fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion; "there is reason to believe he is lying"
v
  1. decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion; "We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house"
    Synonym(s): reason, reason out, conclude
  2. present reasons and arguments
    Synonym(s): argue, reason
  3. think logically; "The children must learn to reason"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Reason \Rea"son\, n. [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}.]
      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 [bd]catholic.[b8]   --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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Reason \Rea"son\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reasoned}; 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.
  
      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.
  
                     Stand still, that I may reason with you, before the
                     Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord. --1
                                                                              Sam. xii. 7.
  
      3. To converse; to compare opinions. --Shak.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   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.
  
                     When they are clearly discovered, well digested, and
                     well reasoned in every part, there is beauty in such
                     a theory.                                          --T. Burnet.
  
      2. To support with reasons, as a request. [R.] --Shak.
  
      3. To persuade by reasoning or argument; as, to reason one
            into a belief; to reason one out of his plan.
  
                     Men that will not be reasoned into their senses.
                                                                              --L'Estrange.
  
      4. To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons; -- with down;
            as, to reason down a passion.
  
      5. To find by logical process; to explain or justify by
            reason or argument; -- usually with out; as, to reason out
            the causes of the librations of the moon.
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