Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Reason or justification for existing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Reason or excuse for being; rational cause or ground for existence.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The claimed
reason for theexistence of something or someone; the sole or ultimatepurpose of something or someone. (literally "reason to be") - noun Plural form of raison d’être.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French : raison, reason + de, of, for + être, to be.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French raison d'être.
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Examples
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