| reason | |
| 1. n. A cause: | |
| 2. n. That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause. | |
| The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted. | |
| 3. n. A motive for an action or a determination. | |
| The reason I robbed the bank was that I needed the money. | |
| If you don't give me a reason to go with you, I won't. | |
| 4. n. 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. | |
| 5. n. Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition. | |
| Mankind should develop reason above all other virtues. | |
| 6. n. (obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice. | |
| 7. n. (mathematics, obsolete) Ratio; proportion. | |
| 8. v. (intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational | |
| 9. v. (intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue. | |
| 10. v. (intransitive) To converse; to compare opinions. | |
| 11. v. To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss. | |
| I reasoned the matter with my friend. | |
| 12. v. (transitive, rare) To support with reasons, as a request. | |
| 13. v. To persuade by reasoning or argument. | |
| to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan | |
| 14. v. (transitive, with down) To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons. | |
| to reason down a passion | |
| 15. v. (transitive, usually with out) To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument. | |
| to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon | |
