rationality

[rash-uh-nal-i-tee]

noun

plural

rationalities 

1. the state or quality of being rational.

2. the possession of reason.

3. agreeableness to reason; reasonableness.

4. the exercise of reason.

5. a reasonable view, practice, etc.

Other Word Forms

• antirationality noun
• nonrationality noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of rationality¹

First recorded in 1560–70, rationality is from the Late Latin word ratiōnālitās reasonableness. See rational, -ity

Example Sentences

There’s some discussion of how mere rationality gets you only so far.

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This work challenges long-held assumptions that rationality, defined as forming and updating beliefs based on evidence, belongs only to humans.

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“Schoolteachers who bash into our heads that evolution has no rationality often completely ignore the fact that, in the long run, nature’s creations are indistinguishable from rational designs,” the neuroscientist observes.

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Tylor and Robertson Smith agreed, however, that what Tylor called the “essential rationality of primitive peoples” linked the savage past and the civilized present.

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Early modern Europe was sufficiently complex linguistically, politically and religiously—and sufficiently analytical—for its revival of Greco-Roman rationality to herald an era of modern critique.

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Related Words

• coherence 
• good sense www.thesaurus.com
• sanity