Definition of: reason

(rē′zən) noun
1. That which is thought or alleged as the basis or ground for any opinion, determination, or action; something adduced or adapted to influence the mind in determining or acting; proof; argument; motive; principle.
2. That which explains or accounts for any fact, act, proceeding, or event; loosely, an efficient or final cause, or a condition.
3. The entire mental or rational nature of man, as distinguished from the intelligence of the brute; the mind; in a more limited sense, the purely intellectual faculties.
4. Specifically, the normal exercise of the rational faculties.
5. That which is in conformity to general opinion; common sense: The anarchist was brought to reason.
6. A logical ground for thinking; an antecedent; also, the premise or premises of an argument, generally the minor premise.
7. That which is right or befitting; just procedure; a reasonable act or proposition.
8. Intuition.
—v.i.
1. To think logically; obtain inferences or conclusions from known or presumed facts.
2. To talk or argue logically.
—v.t.
3. To think out carefully and logically; analyze; with out.
4. To influence by means of reason; persuade or dissuade.
5. To argue; debate. See synonyms under ARGUE, DISPUTE. [<OF raison <L ratio, -onis <ratus, pp. of reri reckon. Doublet of RATION, RATIO.] Synonyms (noun): account, aim, argument, cause, consideration, design, end, ground, motive, object, principle, purpose. While the cause of any event, act, or fact, as commonly understood, is the power that makes it to be, the reason of or for it is the explanation given by the human mind; but reason is often used as equivalent to cause, especially in the sense of final cause. In the statement of any reasoning, the argument may be an entire syllogism, or the premises considered together apart from the conclusion, or in logical strictness the middle term only by which the particular conclusion is connected with the general statement. But when the reasoning is not in strict logical form, the middle term following the conclusion is called the reason; thus in the statement “All tyrants deserve death; Caesar was a tyrant; therefore Caesar deserved death,” “Caesar was a tyrant” would in the strictest sense be called the argument; but if we say “Caesar deserved death because he was a tyrant,” the latter clause would be termed the reason. See CAUSE, INTELLECT, MIND, REASONING, UNDERSTANDING, WISDOM. Compare BECAUSE.