ratiocination
/ɹætiˌɑsiˈneɪʃn̩/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.29 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
6
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "But it will be apparent from the refutation of the ſecond Falſification, wherewith you charge the Author of the Letters, that theſe miſchievous conſequences are rightly drawn from the wicked principle layd down by Vaſquez [Gabriel Vásquez] in the ſame place, and accordingly, that that Jeſuit hath not done violence to the rules of ratiocination, but to thoſe of the Goſpel."
- "He'd run in Debt by Diſputation, / And pay with Ratiocination. / All this by Syllogiſm, true / In Mood and Figure, he wou'd do."
- "Reasoning, in the extended sense in which I use the term, and in which it is synonymous with Inference, is popularly said to be of two kinds: reasoning from particulars to generals, and reasoning from generals to particulars; the former being called Induction, the latter Ratiocination or Syllogism. […] The meaning intended by these expressions is, that Induction is inferring a proposition from propositions less general than itself, and Ratiocination is inferring a proposition from propositions equally or more general."
- "It is hard to follow the kinks of woman suffrage ratiocination."
- "As the requirements of mass democracy forced the gentleman intellectual from the political scene, the new style political leaders felt the need to flatter the electorate by stressing the superiority of inborn, natural, intuitive and folkish wisdom and to devaluate the ratiocinations of the cultivated."
- "Finally Tao comes to possess the meaning of “rational speech” or “word,” and in this sense it closely resembles the Greek Logos, for in addition to its philosophical significance the term Tao touches a religious chord in the souls of the Chinese just as did the word Logos among the Platonists and the Greek Christians. […] The Tao of man, jan tao [footnote: 人道], is the process of ratiocination, and as such it is fallible; but there is an Eternal Reason, ch‘ang tao [footnote: 常道], also called t‘ien tao [footnote: 天道], “Heaven’s Reason,” i.e., the world-order which shapes all things, and the burden of Lao-tze’s message is to let this Heaven’s Reason or Eternal Reason prevail."
Etymology
Borrowed from French ratiocination, from Latin ratiōcinātiō (“argumentation, reasoning, ratiocination; a syllogism”), from ratiōcinātus (“reckoned”) + -tiō (suffix forming a noun relating to some action or the result of an action). Ratiōcinātus is the perfect passive participle of ratiōcinor (“to compute, reckon; to argue, infer”), from ratiō (“reason, explanation”) (from reor (“to calculate, reckon”), possibly from Proto-Italic *rēōr, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁- (“to put in order”)) + -cinor, modelled after vāticinor (“to foretell, prophesy”), equivalent to ratiocinate + -ion.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂er-, ratiocination, ratiōcinātiō, *rēōr
- Suffix: ratiocinate
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹætiˌɑsiˈneɪʃn̩/
- British English: /ɹætɪˌɒsɪˈneɪʃn̩/