reason
noun
- 1a cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event: she asked him to return, but didn’t give a reason I resigned for personal reasons
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- Logic a premise of an argument in support of a belief, especially a minor premise when given after the conclusion.
- 2
- what is right, practical, or possible; common sense: people are willing, within reason, to pay for schooling
- (one's reason) one’s sanity: she is in danger of losing her reason
verb
- think, understand, and form judgements logically: humans do not reason entirely from facts
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- (reason with) persuade (someone) with rational argument: I tried to reason with her, but without success
Phrases
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beyond (all) reason
- to a foolishly excessive degree: he indulged Andrew beyond all reason
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by reason of
- formal because of: persons who, by reason of age, are in need of care
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for some reason
- used to convey that one does not know the reason for a particular situation, often with the implication that one finds it strange or surprising: for some reason he likes you
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listen to reason
- be persuaded to act sensibly: he’s too emotionally overwrought to listen to reason
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theirs (or ours) not to reason why
- used to suggest that it is not someone’s (or one’s) place to question a situation: to be a Met Assistant you didn’t have to understand the weather, only to record—ours not to reason why[with allusion to Tennyson's ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ (1854)]
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reason of state
- another term for raison d'état.
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(it) stands to reason
- it is obvious or logical: it stands to reason that if you can eradicate the fear the nervousness will subside
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French reisun (noun), raisoner (verb), from a variant of Latin ratio(n-), from the verb reri 'consider'
1 Many people object to the construction the reason why ..., on the grounds that the subordinate clause should express a statement, using a that-clause, not imply a question with a why-clause: the reason (that) I decided not to phone rather than the reason why I decided not to phone.2 The construction the reason ... is because, as in the reason I didn’t phone is because my mother has been ill, is also disliked, on the grounds that either ‘because’ or ‘the reason’ is redundant; it is better to use the word that instead ( the reason I didn’t phone is that ...) or rephrase altogether ( I didn’t phone because ...).Nevertheless, both the above usages are well established and, although they may be inelegant, they are generally accepted in standard English.