subrational

[suhb-rash-uh-nl]

adjective

1. less than or almost rational.

Word History and Origins

Origin of subrational¹

First recorded in 1860–65; sub- + rational

Example Sentences

He once wrote a letter to a scientist friend—summarized in this 2002 profile of him from New York magazine—that’s ostensibly about termite society, but what it really describes, with uncanny insight, are the sticky, subrational alliances of the puerile ultra-rich.

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Yet very often a distinct delusion may be reasoned out of even a subrational person, if it is taken seriously, and some striking expression of its irrationality and of its total disagreement with scientific views can be shown to the patient.

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It is for the subrational that we most need to insist on punishment.

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So far as possible, punishment must inevitably follow crime in the world, in order to impress the subrational and deter them from yielding to impulses.

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When the subrational know that they can do things without being severely punished for them, they will always abuse that state of affairs.

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