reasons

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of reason.

   The committee listed its reasons for rejecting the proposal.

   His reasons for leaving the company were never made clear.

   Note

   The plural belongs only to the countable meanings of reason: causes, motives, excuses and premises offered in support of a conclusion. Rational thought itself is uncountable, so reasons never names the faculty of thinking. In use it is usually followed by for or by a why clause, as in reasons for leaving or the reasons why it failed. The same spelling also serves the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of reason.

   The detective reasons from small clues toward a full picture.

   Each generation reasons about morality in its own way.

   Note

   Most uses of this form need no object: the thinker simply reasons, often from evidence or about a question. It takes an object when it means persuading someone by argument, or setting out the case for and against something. A rarer use means backing a request with reasons. The sense "to converse" is obsolete and appears only in older writing.

3. 3
   nounplural

   A written judgment or ruling issued by a judge or similar decision maker explaining the basis for a decision.

   The tribunal published its reasons alongside the final order.

   Counsel pored over the reasons looking for a ground of appeal.

   Similarjudgment, ruling, opinion

   Note

   A courtroom word that stays plural even when it names a single document. A judge releases reasons, not a reason, and the word takes a plural verb: Jean L. MacFarland writes in 2015 that "the reasons were released February 2, 2015." It is usually tied to a particular ruling with for, as in the reasons for dismissing a motion. Outside legal writing, the same phrase would simply mean several motives or causes.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3