reason

UK/ˈɹiːzən/US/ˈɹiːzən/

nounA15 meanings One of the most common words in English · #246 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: reasons, reasoning, reasoned

A reason is the why behind something. Why the train stopped, why she left early, why there is a hole in the fence.

The noun takes for: the reason for the delay, a reason for leaving. With why it doubles up harmlessly - the reason why he called - but the reason is because grates on careful readers, who want the reason is that. Reason is also a verb, meaning to work something out step by step, and to reason with someone is to try to talk them round calmly. Uncountable, it names the thinking power itself: the age of reason, listen to reason, beyond all reason. And within reason marks the sensible limit of a promise - take what you like, within reason.

Definitions of reason

1nounreasonThe cause or explanation for something.A1~67%
“The reason for the delay was a signal failure outside Reading.”
synonyms: cause, explanation
2noungroundsA ground that justifies doing or believing something.B1~2%
“There is every reason to check the figures again before we send them.”
synonyms: grounds, motive
3nounpowerThe power to think clearly and judge sensibly.B2~2%
“Panic had driven every trace of reason out of the room.”
4verbstepTo think something through step by step and reach a conclusion.B2~27%
“She reasoned that the key had to be inside, because the door had locked itself.”
5verbtryTo try to persuade someone by calm argument.B2~2%
“I tried to reason with him for an hour and got nowhere.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 7 sentences found in the wild and placed 7 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Also accepted in games: cause

Phrases it lives in

it stands to reason — it follows logically, so nobody should be surprised
listen to reason — accept a sensible argument instead of digging in
within reason — up to a sensible limit

Where it comes from

Reason arrived through Anglo-Norman raisun and Old French raison from Latin ratio, a noun built on reor, to reckon. So a reason began as a reckoning, something counted up rather than felt. Ratio and ration are the same Latin word let into English by other doors, and further back sits the Proto-Indo-European root *h2reh1-, to think.

Proto-Indo-European
*h₂er-
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂reh₁- — to think
Latin
ratiō
Old French
raison
Anglo-Norman
raisun
Middle English
resoun
English, today
reason

Built from

reor · Latin — reckon
*h₂er- · Proto-Indo-European — to put together

From Middle English resoun, reson, from Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin ratiō, from ratus, past participle of reor (“reckon”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂reh₁- (“to think”), reanalysed root of h₂er- (“to put together”). Displaced native Middle English -rede, from Old English rǣden (“condition, stipulation, calculation, direction”), from the same Proto-Indo-European source (compare West Frisian reden (“reason”), Dutch reden (“reason”)). a doublet of ration and ratio.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Big Ideas, Thinking & Memory

Practise this word

reason in the wild

The field of logic is the study of how humans can use formal reasoning to produce logically valid arguments and true conclusions.
Reason
Animal psychology considers the question of whether animals other than humans can reason.
Reason
For that reason, a decree nisi may also be called a rule, order or decree to show cause.
Decree nisi
AVG Technologies did not give a reason for this shut down, only commenting that it was a business decision.
Crossloop
For this reason, the regiment is known as "England's Northern Cavalry".
Light Dragoons

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the reor family

reason

reason — used about once every 17 pages · #246 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of reason

1nounreasonThe cause or explanation for something.A1~67%

“The reason for the delay was a signal failure outside Reading.”

synonyms: cause, explanation

2noungroundsA ground that justifies doing or believing something.B1~2%

“There is every reason to check the figures again before we send them.”

synonyms: grounds, motive

3nounpowerThe power to think clearly and judge sensibly.B2~2%

“Panic had driven every trace of reason out of the room.”

4verbstepTo think something through step by step and reach a conclusion.B2~27%

“She reasoned that the key had to be inside, because the door had locked itself.”

5verbtryTo try to persuade someone by calm argument.B2~2%

“I tried to reason with him for an hour and got nowhere.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 7 sentences found in the wild and placed 7 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Also accepted in games: cause