Showing results for "reasoning"

• present participle of reason.

reasoning

American  

[ree-zuh-ning, reez-ning] / ˈri zə nɪŋ, ˈriz nɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or process of a person who reasons.

2. the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.

3. the reasons, arguments, proofs, etc., resulting from this process.

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reasoning British  

/ ˈriːzənɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or process of drawing conclusions from facts, evidence, etc

2. the arguments, proofs, etc, so adduced

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Other Word Forms

• half-reasoning
  adjective
• nonreasoning
  adjective
• reasoningly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of reasoning

First recorded in 1325–75, reasoning is from the Middle English word resoninge. See reason, -ing ²

Explanation

Reasoning is a logical, thoughtful way of thinking. When your teacher explains the reasoning behind his classroom rules, he makes it clear exactly why and how he came up with them. Voters often want to understand the reasoning behind certain laws, and toddlers almost always want to know the reasoning behind rules about bedtime and wearing warm clothes on cold days. You can also use reasoning as an adjective, to describe someone who can think logically. A reasoning adult can make decisions for herself. The word comes from reason, which is rooted in the Old French raisoner, "discuss or argue," and the Late Latin rationare, "to discourse."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reasoning

The decision and his reasoning sounded almost responsible.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026

Dan Burn: The Newcastle defender's inclusion was the subject of much debate but his performance against Mexico underlined the reasoning.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

But for complex reasoning tasks like managing AI agents, advanced coding problems and multistep research, frontier models perform better—even if by a small percentage—and that can make all the difference in outpacing the competition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

"What makes AI particularly concerning is that it's not a tool designated for one specific kind of activity. It's something that can be used across pretty much any intellectual, reasoning, cognitive activity."

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

Estraven, however, was on the track of his luck, following what appeared to be hunch or intuition, but may have been applied experience and reasoning.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• acumen
• analysis
• argument
• hypothesis
• inference
• interpretation
• premise
• proposition
• rationale
• thinking