reason

/ɹˈizən/ · 2 syllables

Meaning

noun

a rational motive for a belief or action
“the reason that war was declared”
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”
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”
the state of having good sense and sound judgment
“his rationality may have been impaired”
a justification for something existing or happening
“he had no cause to complain”
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”
present reasons and arguments
think logically
“The children must learn to reason”

Developers: get definitions, synonyms, antonyms, rhymes and pronunciation for 147,000 words as JSON with the English Dictionary API (free trial).