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Rational   /rˈæʃənəl/  /rˈæʃnəl/   Listen
adjective
Rational  adj.  
1.
Relating to the reason; not physical; mental. "Moral philosophy was his chiefest end; for the rational, the natural, and mathematics... were but simple pastimes in comparison of the other."
2.
Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with reason or understanding; reasoning. "It is our glory and happiness to have a rational nature."
3.
Agreeable to reason; not absurd, preposterous, extravagant, foolish, fanciful, or the like; wise; judicious; as, rational conduct; a rational man.
4.
(Chem.) Expressing the type, structure, relations, and reactions of a compound; graphic; said of formulae. See under Formula.
Rational horizon. (Astron.) See Horizon, 2 (b).
Rational quantity (Alg.), one that can be expressed without the use of a radical sign, or in exact parts of unity; opposed to irrational or radical quantity.
Rational symptom (Med.), one elicited by the statements of the patient himself and not as the result of a physical examination.
Synonyms: Sane; sound; intelligent; reasonable; sensible; wise; discreet; judicious. Rational, reasonable. Rational has reference to reason as a faculty of the mind, and is opposed to irrational; as, a rational being, a rational state of mind, rational views, etc. In these cases the speculative reason is more particularly, referred to. Reasonable has reference to the exercise of this faculty for practical purposes, and means, governed or directed by reason; as, reasonable desires or plans; a reasonable charge; a reasonable prospect of success. "What higher in her society thou find'st Attractive, human, rational, love still." "A law may be reasonable in itself, although a man does not allow it, or does not know the reason of the lawgivers."



noun
Rational  n.  A rational being.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Rational" Quotes from Famous Books



... where he had been sleeping, in a direction towards the sleeping-place of the natives, clearly indicated that it was not until he had arisen from his sleep, and had been closely pressing upon them, that they had fired the fatal shot. Such appeared to me to be the most plausible and rational explanation of this melancholy affair—I would willingly believe it to be the ...
— Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central • Edward John Eyre

... visit on Whitelocke. He is a senator and one of the College of War, a person of great esteem and good parts; his conversation was full of civility; his discourse (in French) was rational, and for the most part upon matter of war, history, and the mathematics. In his company was an officer, his brother-in-law, who had served the King of Portugal in his late wars, and was a civil person, and seemed a gallant man. This Grave had been long bred up in the wars, ...
— A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. • Bulstrode Whitelocke

... impunity that the millennium has come, for they will want to enjoy it immediately, and will tolerate no deception practiced on their expectations. In this violent state, fired by boundless expectations, all their whims appear reasonable and all their opinions rational. They are no longer able to find faults with or control themselves. In their brain, overflowing with emotions and enthusiasm, there is no room but for one intense, absorbing, fixed idea. Each is confident and over-confident in his own opinion; all become impassioned, ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... their beds, in anticipating to-morrow; in considering what is going to happen, or what is not; in weighing their own future words and deeds given a variety of contingencies. For reason, which at first kept him, despite his disquiet, in the region of the rational, grew weaker with Henry as the night advanced; the shadow of trouble deepened as his weary wits lost their balance to combat it. The premonition was as formless and amorphous as a cloud, and, though he could not see any shape to his fear, or define its limitations, it grew darker ere ...
— The Grey Room • Eden Phillpotts

... discoveries are beside a way of thinking they have been long used to. Resolved, therefore, that, if ever I live to years, I will be impartial to hear the reasons of all pretended discoveries, and receive them, if rational, how long soever I have been used to another way of thinking. I am too dogmatical; I have too much of egotism; my disposition is always to be telling of my dislike and my scorn.' What a fine, fresh, fruitful, progressive, and peaceful world we should ...
— Bunyan Characters - Third Series - The Holy War • Alexander Whyte


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