Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Fundamental reasons; the basis.
- n. An exposition of principles or reasons.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The rational basis or motive of something; that which accounts for or explains the existence of something; reason for being.
- n. A rational explanation or statement of reasons; an argumentative or theoretical account; a reasoned exposition.
- n. Same as rational, 2.
Wiktionary
- n. an explanation of the basis or fundamental reasons for something
- n. a justification or rationalization for something
- n. a liturgical vestment worn by Christian bishops of various denominations
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An explanation or exposition of the principles of some opinion, action, hypothesis, phenomenon, or the like; also, the principles themselves.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature)
Etymologies
- Around 1650-1650 from the Late Latin ratiōnāle, the neuter form of ratiōnālis ("rational, possessing reason"). (Wiktionary)
- Late Latin ratiōnāle, from neuter of Latin ratiōnālis, rational; see rational. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He says his main rationale is that it provides justice for the victim's family.”
“Surely, 'Laughably' would be more apt given the report's rationale (I use the term rationale loosely).”
“Of these, the first three have more or less been OK moving to Santa Monica (well, at least the rationale is there).”
“To develop so strong a brand on so conspicuously threadbare a rationale is hugely creative – revolutionary even.”
“The rationale is that renters become home buyers when it makes economic sense to own rather than rent.”
“It is just another rationale from the Party of NO! for doing nothing.”
“My rationale is as follows - there are lots of grain fields in this area so deer can get fat.”
“The typical rationale is that grandfathering permits to the industry is the only way to win support for the regulation.”
Matthew Yglesias » The Strange Persistence of Carbon Tax Advocates
“I am not sure what the rationale is for the prohibition against taking $10,000 or more out of The US without declaring it, but I have seen news reports where all money exceeding $10,000 Dollars has been seized by the federal government from people, mostly illegal immigrants, when they were leaving The US.”
“The underlying rationale is to create a government that is more active on behalf of the middle class.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rationale’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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Daily encountered words
Words encountered on daily basis while reading blogs,newspapers,magazines and books.
Euphemism, penny-pinching, thrift, frugal, fanciful, convoluted, copious, bogus, corroborate, debunk, diffident, exacting and 63 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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GPaX. Words.
excogitate, clarity, obscurity, tangential, interesting, regurgitate, mycelium, degradation, unladen, swallow, klein, quote and 120 more...
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savage215's Words
pipe, yankee, knickerbocker, tennis, plasma, magma, volcano, car, truck, television, tv, word and 445 more...
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The Elegant Universe
Vocab. from "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene
replete, schematic, transient, perturbative, conversely, efficacy, trivial, ostensible, disillusionment, manifest, grandiose, transmute and 48 more...
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ginnylev's Words
neuroplasticity, repudiate, scintilla, ruminate, tautology, ombudsman, exigent, filibuster, grace, ambidextrous, amends, disclosure and 623 more...
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amazing grace
hymn, nave, narthex, chapel, novice, asperges, altar, annunciation, liturgical, litany, nicene creed, cloister and 209 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2263 more...
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WrightHandWords's Words
yclept, unction, prana, satya, abhyasa, vairagya, yoga, ashtanga, acronym, etymology, asana, widget and 286 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rationale.

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