reasoning

Pluralreasonings (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The mental process of drawing conclusions from premises through logical, abstract thought.

   The detective's reasoning led her straight to the culprit.

   Sound reasoning requires examining each premise before settling on a conclusion.

   Similarlogic, thinking, deduction, rationale, argument

   Note

   This is mostly a mass noun, used without an article or a plural: sound reasoning, her reasoning, the reasoning behind a choice. It becomes countable when it means one particular line of argument, and the plural reasonings then names several separate arguments or motives behind someone's actions. Ratiocination is its formal, Latinate near-equivalent, at home in philosophy and rarely heard in conversation.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of reason.

   Reasoning carefully, the judge weighed both arguments before ruling.

   They spent hours reasoning about the best path forward.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. As a participle it builds progressive tenses and modifying clauses: reasoning carefully, the judge ruled. As a gerund it names the activity, and there it shades into the noun for logical thought. It keeps the verb's patterns: usually intransitive (reasoning about a problem), but transitive when it means persuading by argument, as in reasoning someone out of a plan.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A gathering in the Rastafari tradition devoted to chanting, prayer, and discussion.

   Each reasoning brought the brethren together for prayer and lively debate.

   She first encountered the faith at a reasoning in Kingston.

   Note

   Among Rastafari the word names an event rather than a faculty, so it takes an article and a plural: at a reasoning, each reasoning, the reasonings of the brethren. The article usually gives it away. Sound reasoning, with no article, is the sense of logical thought, while a reasoning in Kingston is a gathering you can attend.

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