Reason

How to spell reason

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce reason

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reason mean?

1. nounA cause, explanation, or justification for something.
2. verbTo think, argue, or work something out in a logical way.

Reason in a sentence

• noun

  The manager gave no clear reason for the sudden schedule change.

• verb

  A good detective will reason carefully before naming a suspect.

• noun

  There is every reason to expect the project to finish on time.

• verb

  You cannot reason with someone who refuses to look at the evidence.

Where does reason come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin ratio, which meant a reckoning, a calculation, or the faculty of judgement, built on reri 'to think or reckon'. That Latin noun softened into raison in Old French, where it covered both a cause and the power of thinking clearly. English borrowed it in the 1200s, and the two strands have lived side by side ever since: a 'reason' as a cause or justification, and the verb 'to reason' as the act of thinking logically. The same Latin ratio also gave English the words 'ratio', 'rational', and 'ration', all sharing the idea of measured calculation. The modern spelling keeps the French 'ea' vowel rather than the Latin 'a', which is why it does not look like its cousin 'ratio'.

How the word is built

• reason (from Latin ratio: a reckoning, calculation, judgement, via Old French raison)