rational
/ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.06 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Logically sound; not self-contradictory or otherwise absurd.
adj
Comprising, or expressible as, a ratio
adj
Comprising, or expressible as, a ratio
adj
Comprising, or expressible as, a ratio
adj
Comprising, or expressible as, a ratio
Example Sentences
- "Man is a rational creature."
- "The utility of valid arguments is a monument to our frailty: to the fact that we are not completely rational beings."
- "His statements were quite rational."
- "Prevention for the future is now almost universally allowed to be the only rational plea for the infliction of punishment; but this, when left to the arbitrary discretion of individuals, always has been found, and always will be found, to degenerate into the exercise of revenge for the past."
- "rational conduct"
- "Temperature 99.8 degrees. Pulse 104. She was quite conscious and rational at times, at others very noisy."
Etymology
From Old French rationel, rational, from Latin rationalis (“of or belonging to reason, rational, reasonable; having a ratio”), from ratio (“reason; calculation”).
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂er-, rationel, rationalis, rational, -
Usage
Inflected Forms
more rational (comparative)
most rational (superlative)
rationall (alternative, obsolete)
rationals (plural)