reason

Less common meanings

5. 5
   verbintransitive

   To argue, examine, or debate a matter by developing and presenting logical arguments, often to convince or refute someone.

   In court, she would reason step by step until the opposing lawyer's argument fell apart.

   She reasoned skillfully, dismantling each objection in turn.

   UsageAlso used like said to report a thought or words, as in I reasoned or reasoned the boy.

   Similarargue, debate, contend

   Note

   Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave (1853) has "It was impossible, I reasoned, that men could be so unjust," and David Walliams's Bad Dad (2017) has "reasoned the boy." Chosen over said, it presents the words as argument, not mere remark. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup's narrative, first published in 1853. gutenberg.org
   • The quoted words occur in Northup's first-person narrative as his own reasoning. gutenberg.org
   • David Walliams wrote Bad Dad, whose original English edition appeared in 2017. medien.umbreitkatalog.de
   • Bad Dad contains the narration 'reasoned the boy', introducing the boy's argument. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To use logical argument to try to persuade someone, change their mind, or overcome their objections (as in 'reason with someone', 'reason someone out of something').

   His mentor reasoned him out of quitting school.

   Good negotiators can reason an opponent toward a fair deal.

   UsageOften reason with someone, or reason someone into or out of something.

   Similarpersuade, talk

   Note

   The object can be oneself. In Jane Austen's Emma (1815), a nervous player must reason herself into the power of performance, talking herself step by step into being able to play. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Jane Austen wrote Emma. gutenberg.org
   • Emma was first published in 1815. jasna.org
   • The novel describes a nervous pianist reasoning herself into being able to perform. gutenberg.org
7. 7
   support after claimnouncountable or uncountable

   A premise stated after the conclusion it supports, reversing the usual order.

   Here the reason follows the conclusion rather than coming before it.

   Writers sometimes place the reason after the statement it supports, for emphasis.

   Similarpremise

   Oppositeconclusion

   Note

   Logic sorts the parts of an argument partly by their order, and here the word names the premise that arrives after the claim it supports. In ordinary prose such a premise usually follows a word like because or since: the bridge is unsafe, because the beams have rotted. Spotting it lets an analyst rebuild the argument in the conventional premise-then-conclusion order. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • In the specified logical sense, reason means a premise placed after its conclusion. en.wiktionary.org
   • Because and since can introduce premises, and standard argument reconstruction places premises before the conclusion. en.wikipedia.org
8. 8
   verbraretransitive

   To support a request by providing reasons for it.

   Similarjustify, support, substantiate

9. 9
   nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

   That which is reasonable or just; fairness in accordance with sound thought.

   Note

   An obsolete use in which reason is something owed: what is fair, what a person can justly expect. Lines traditionally attributed to Edmund Spenser on his promised pension turn on it. When their speaker says he was promised "to have reason for my rhyme," he means fair payment for his verse. Outside deliberate archaism, use fairness or justice instead, since a modern reader would hear only logic. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • An obsolete noun sense of reason means what is reasonable or just. en.wiktionary.org
   • The verses were traditionally misattributed to Spenser. Earlier evidence identifies Thomas Churchyard as their author; the quoted wording occurs in Thomas Fuller's later version of the anecdote. english.cam.ac.uk
   • The transmitted lines contain the wording “to have reason for my rhyme.” en.wikiquote.org
   • In the anecdote, reason refers to fair payment for poetry. en.wikipedia.org
10. 10
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To converse with others, comparing opinions.

    Note

    An obsolete use in which reasoning was social rather than solitary: talking things over and setting one opinion beside another. A reader who meets it in older prose should not mistake it for the logical sense of reaching a conclusion. In new writing, converse or talk over does the job without that confusion. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Reason has an obsolete conversational sense meaning to converse or compare opinions. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    The relationship in size between two quantities; ratio or proportion.

    Note

    Here the word wears its Latin origin openly: ratiō, from reor, "reckon." Mathematicians once spoke of the reason between two quantities where they now say ratio. The 1734 English translation of Isaac Barrow's Latin mathematical lectures compares 20 and 4 by dividing the antecedent by the consequent and then inverting the terms. The usage is obsolete, so modern writing needs ratio or proportion. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Reason ultimately derives from Latin ratiō, through ratus, the past participle of reor, meaning ‘reckon’. en.wiktionary.org
    • Reason formerly meant ratio or proportion in mathematics. en.wiktionary.org
    • An English translation of Isaac Barrow’s Latin mathematical lectures was published in 1734. en.wikipedia.org
    • The translation compares 20 and 4 by dividing the antecedent by the consequent, then reversing the terms. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    noundialectal

    A horizontal timber set along the top of a wall to bear the ends of the rafters or joists above.