Definition of "reason"

reason

/ˈɹiːzən/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural reasons
1. A cause:
  1. That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
    Quotations
    There is a reason why so many should be symmetrical: The selective advantage in a symmetrical complex is enjoyed by all the subunits […]
    1996, Daniel Clement Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, page 198
  2. A motive for an action or a determination.
    Quotations
    This is the reason why he proposes to offer a libation, to atone for the abuse of the day by their diversions.
    1806, Anonymous, Select Notes to Book XXI, in, Alexander Pope, translator, The Odyssey of Homer, volume 6 (London, F.J. du Roveray), page 37
    Ralph Touchett, for reasons best known to himself, had seen fit to say that Gilbert Osmond was not a good fellow […]
    1908, Henry James, chapter 10, in The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James), New York edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons; republished as The Portrait of a Lady (EBook #283), United States: Project Gutenberg, 1 September 2001
  3. An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
    Quotations
    I have forgotten the reason he gave for not travelling by air. I felt sure that it was not the correct reason, and that he suffered from a heart trouble which he kept to himself.
    1966, Graham Greene, The Comedians, Penguin Classics, page 14
  4. (logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
2. (uncountable) Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
  Quotations
  The tremendous tragedy in which he had been involved - it was evident he was a fugitive from Weybridge - had driven him to the very verge of his reason.
  1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 113
  And the specific distinction between man and beast is now, strictly speaking, no longer reason (the lumen naturale of the human animal) but science […]
  1970, Hannah Arendt, On Violence, page 62
  The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.
  2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892
3. (obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
  Quotations
  I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme.
  16th century Edmund Spenser, Lines on his Promised Pension
4. (mathematics, obsolete) Ratio; proportion.
  Quotations
  [I]f two Quantities repreſented by the Numbers 20 and 4 be compared, by dividing the Antecedent 20 by the Conſequent 4, the Quotient is 5; but inverting the Terms, by dividing 4 by 20 the Quotient is 4 20 = 1 5 {\displaystyle {\tfrac {4}{20}}={\tfrac {1}{5}}} . By which Quotients are declared the Geometrical Reaſons of the propoſed Quantities, becauſe if the Quotient found be multiplied by the Conſequent, the Product is equal to the Antecedent; for in the former Compariſon 5 × 4 = 20 {\displaystyle 5\times 4=20} , in the latter 1 5 × 20 = 4 {\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{5}}\times 20=4} ; as Things again are referred to Equality.
  1734, Isaac Barrow, “Lecture XVII. Of the Names and Diversities of the Twofold Kind of Reason or Proportion, viz. Arithmetical and Geometrical”, in John Kirkby, transl., The Usefulness of Mathematical Learning Explained and Demonstrated: Being Mathematical Lectures Read in the Publick Schools at the University of Cambridge. […], London: […] Stephen Austen, […], pages 323–324
verb
third-person singular simple present reasons, present participle reasoning, simple past and past participle reasoned
1. (intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
  Quotations
  "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. […] "
  1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band
2. (intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
  Quotations
  Still my spirit was not broken. I indulged the anticipation of escape, and that speedily. It was impossible, I reasoned, that men could be so unjust as to detain me as a slave, when the truth of my case was known.
  1853, Solomon Northup, chapter III, in [David Wilson], editor, Twelve Years a Slave. […], London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.; Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, page 47
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To converse; to compare opinions.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.
  Quotations
  The talk was mainly between Aleck and Murdie, the others crowding eagerly about and putting in a word as they could. Murdie was reasoning good-humoredly, Aleck replying fiercely.
  1901, Ralph Connor, chapter 9, in The Man from Glengarry
5. (transitive, rare) To support with reasons, as a request.
6. (transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument.
  Quotations
  That she was not immediately ready, Emma did suspect to arise from the state of her nerves; she had not yet possessed the instrument long enough to touch it without emotion; she must reason herself into the power of performance; and Emma could not but pity such feelings, whatever their origin, and could not but resolve never to expose them to her neighbour again.
  1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 10, in Emma: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II or III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray
7. (transitive, with down) To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.
8. (transitive, usually with out) To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument.

Definition of "reason"

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