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rationalize

[rash-uh-nl-ahyz, rash-nl-ahyz]

verb (used with object)

to ascribe (one's acts, opinions, etc.) to causes that superficially seem reasonable and valid but that actually are unrelated to the true, possibly unconscious and often less creditable or agreeable causes.

to remove unreasonable elements from.

to make rational or conformable to reason.

to treat or explain in a rational or rationalistic manner.

Mathematics. to eliminate radicals from (an equation or expression): to rationalize the denominator of a fraction.

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Chiefly British. to reorganize and integrate (an industry).

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

to invent plausible explanations for acts, opinions, etc., that are actually based on other causes: He tried to prove that he was not at fault, but he was obviously rationalizing.

to employ reason; think in a rational or rationalistic manner.

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Rationalize is always a great word to know.

So is rule of three. Does it mean:

the method of finding the fourth term in a proportion when three terms are given

a rational number or the limit of a sequence of rational numbers, as opposed to a complex number

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Also, especially British, ra·tion·al·ise.

Origin:
1810–20; rational + -ize

Related forms

ra·tion·al·i·za·tion, noun

ra·tion·al·iz·er, noun

non·ra·tion·al·i·za·tion, noun

non·ra·tion·al·ized, adjective

o·ver·ra·tion·al·i·za·tion, noun

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o·ver·ra·tion·al·ize, verb, -ized, -iz·ing.

sem·i·ra·tion·al·ized, adjective

un·ra·tion·al·ized, adjective

un·ra·tion·al·iz·ing, adjective

COLLAPSE

Usage note
Although rationalize retains its principal 19th-century senses “to make conformable to reason” and “to treat in a rational manner,” 20th-century psychology has given it the now more common meaning “to ascribe (one's acts, opinions, etc.) to causes that seem reasonable but actually are unrelated to the true, possibly unconscious causes.” Although the possibility of ambiguity exists, the context will usually make clear which sense is intended.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To rationalize

Example Sentences

Because it is diffiult to achieve better integration, the tendency has increasingly become to rationalize the legated status quo.

His defenders will rationalize that he only was talking about more recent leaders, not the earlier ones.

Of course, they won't vote to do it, and they won't rationalize not doing it.

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Because it is diffiult to achieve better integration, the tendency has increasingly become to rationalize the legated status quo.

His defenders will rationalize that he only was talking about more recent leaders, not the earlier ones.

Of course, they won't vote to do it, and they won't rationalize not doing it.

When you deal with animals, you can't expect them to rationalize your good intentions.

Of course, being able to evolutionarily rationalize this feeling doesn't make it go away.

Apologists for the status quo rationalize that toil is humanity's natural fate and burden.

Not surprisingly, low gasoline prices helped students to rationalize their desire for fast, powerful models.

There's also the present value of money vs the future value, which is a good way to rationalize this sort of refinance.

RestrainedRadical, it is not the role of government to rationalize what people chose to do with their lives.

The key here is to compare different alternatives and rationalize.

The buyer will rationalize the acquisition of the trinkets as impeachably intelligent.

Prosperous towns adopted the new technology to organize and rationalize their burgeoning complexity.

There is no benefit that can rationalize or justify the sacrificing of human life.

Just don't rationalize it as sincere disagreement based on the science.

The problem with economists is that,apparently, they have a limitless capacity to rationalize events after they happen.

The time will come to rationalize the laws of drugs.

We make every excuse in the book, trying to rationalize eating animals or distancing ourselves from our actions.

The act of trying to defend or rationalize what this person did is insanity.

Which could be used, perhaps, to rationalize transportation and communication infrastructure investments.

True scientific studies have found that people make decisions first, then rationalize them afterward.

Television fees would further rationalize the thirst for triumph that often quenched the thirst for learning.

It's really a wonder they ever managed to rationalize it at all.

What really disturbs surviving employees about downsizings is that they cannot control or rationalize the events.

All of us can stand on our high horse and morally rationalize or justify this or that practice.

Parents may tell themselves this to rationalize their behavior, but that doesn't make it acceptable.

All that is left is to rationalize it as something that was never all that big a deal in the first place.

If the character does nothing which generates sound, it is hard to rationalize creating too much.

They must rationalize it in terms of something else.

Conversely colleges can use the low economic status of adjuncts to rationalize hiring unqualified.

We need to rationalize this entire process in a hurry.

It wishes to discriminate and to rationalize it by framing the issue only as alleged economic hardship.

If these are your primary variables of interest, it's going to be difficult for you to rationalize using this data set.

People do things all the time to make themselves feel better and rationalize their actions.

Now there is a new movement afoot to rationalize and defend.

To rationalize this racist nostalgia, it proponents are attempting to give it credence through pseudo-academics.

The solution is to rationalize our consumption worldwide by applying a tax at the source of the production, wherever that may.

Radically higher landing fees might force airlines to rationalize their schedules, say, by offering fewer flights to.

Rationalize it either as a buffer for getting your act together before vital meetings, or in the cause of saving money.

However, the tendency is to rationalize their existence with an explanation known as compactification.

He sought not to rationalize the world but to express its dynamism.

Keaton may rationalize her character's distractingly elegant look by arguing that plenty of women on welfare are attractive.

Jones and an effort to rationalize to his dwindling supporters why he chose not to burn the.

At that early time the whole thing was so easy to rationalize.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

rationalize or rationalise (ˈræʃənəˌlaɪz)

—vb
1.	to justify (one's actions, esp discreditable actions, or beliefs) with plausible reasons, esp after the event
2.	psychol to indulge, often unchallenged, in excuses for or explanations of (behaviour about which one feels uncomfortable or guilty)
3.	to apply logic or reason to (something)
4.	to eliminate unnecessary equipment, personnel, or processes from (a group of businesses, factory, etc), in order to make it more efficient
5.	(tr) maths to eliminate one or more radicals without changing the value of (an expression) or the roots of (an equation)

rationalise or rationalise

—vb

rationali'zation or rationalise

—n

rationali'sation or rationalise

—n

'rationalizer or rationalise

—n

'rationaliser or rationalise

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

rationalize ra·tion·al·ize (rāsh'ə-nə-līz')
v. ra·tion·al·ized, ra·tion·al·iz·ing, ra·tion·al·iz·es

To make rational.
To devise self-satisfying but false or inconsistent reasons for one's behavior, especially as an unconscious defense mechanism through which irrational acts or feelings are made to appear rational to oneself.

ra'tion·al·i·za'tion (rāsh'ə-nə-lĭ-zā'shən) n.

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"However toplofty and idealistic a man may be, he can always rationalize his right to earn money."

-Raymond Chandler

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