Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The fundamental reasons for something; the basis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The rational basis or motive of something; that which accounts for or explains the existence of something; reason for being.
  • noun A rational explanation or statement of reasons; an argumentative or theoretical account; a reasoned exposition.
  • noun Same as rational, 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An explanation or exposition of the principles of some opinion, action, hypothesis, phenomenon, or the like; also, the principles themselves.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun an explanation of the basis or fundamental reasons for something
  • noun a justification or rationalization for something
  • noun a liturgical vestment worn by Christian bishops of various denominations

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin ratiōnāle, from neuter of Latin ratiōnālis, rational; see rational.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Around 1650-1650 from the Late Latin ratiōnāle, the neuter form of ratiōnālis ("rational, possessing reason").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word rationale.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.