ratiocination

[rash-ee-os-uh-ney-shuh n, -oh-suh-, rat-ee-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ratiocination ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the process of logical reasoning.

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Origin of ratiocination

1520–30; < Latin ratiōcinātiōn- (stem of ratiōcinātiō), equivalent to ratiōcināt(us) (see ratiocinate) + -iōn- -ion

Related formsra·ti·oc·i·na·tive, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ratiocinative

Either half of it, the Ratiocinative or the Inductive, would have surpassed any previous work on the same subject.
Review of the Work of Mr John Stuart Mill Entitled, 'Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy.'|George Grote
No ratiocinative deduction can be more incontestable than that, since I have thoughts, there must be an I to have them.
Old-Fashioned Ethics and Common-Sense Metaphysics|William Thomas Thornton
It would be absurd to say that the ratiocinative, literal mind is higher than the ideal.
Commentary Upon the Maya-Tzental Perez Codex|William E. Gates
And of it ther be tuoe sortes, the one enunciative, and the other ratiocinative.
Of the Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue|Alexander Hume

The ratiocinative coples the partes of a ratiocination, and it either inferres the conclusion or the reason.
Of the Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue|Alexander Hume

Word Origin and History for ratiocinative

ratiocination

"process of reasoning," 1520s, from Latin ratiocinationem (nominative ratiocinatio) "a reasoning, calm reasoning," from past participle stem of ratiocinare "to calculate, deliberate," from ratio (see ratio) + -cinari, which probably is related to conari "to try" (see conation).

Most writers make ratiocination synonymous with reasoning. J.S. Mill and others hold that the word is usually limited to necessary reasoning. [Century Dictionary]