rationalizev.
/ˈraʃn̩əlʌɪz/, /ˈraʃn̩l̩ʌɪz/, /ˈraʃənl̩ʌɪz/, /ˈraʃ(ə)nəlʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈræʃənlˌaɪz/, /ˈræʃnəˌlaɪz/ 1.
a. transitive. To explain on a rational basis, make conformable to reason; to make rational, consistent, or intelligible.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > make reasonable [verb (transitive)]
to bring (a person) to reasona1400
justify?a1500
rationalize1665
1665 N. Hodges Vindiciæ Medicinæ & Medicorum i. 17 The truth is, these need no Physicians if they can rationalize their noble Arcana.
1748 View Controv. conc. Miraculous Powers xii. 102 It would not be difficult for Others to answer it, Who..are not of Opinion, that the Doctrine of the second Century..can rationalize an Absurdity.
1797 J. Bentham Corr. Sept. (1981) V. 379 Book-keeping rationalized—if thus I may have leave to translate your French-imported raisonné.
1803 Lett. Miss Riversdale II. 79 This interesting sentiment [sc. friendship]..secures the permanence of happiness, by rationalizing (if I may use such a word) its origin.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria II. xviii. 89 The second Olympic composed for the..purpose of rationalizing the Theban Eagle.
1846 G. Grote Hist. Greece I. i. xvi. 533 The disposition of Herodotus to rationalise the miraculous narratives of the current mythes.
1883 H. Spencer in Contemp. Rev. 43 9 When life has been duly rationalized by science..care of the body is imperative.
1935 Encycl. Social Sci. XIII. 116/1 The problem was to rationalize human social life on the basis of self-evident and universal principles.
1965 W. J. Harvey in ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch (new ed.) 11 Bulstrode..who rationalizes his worldly success as an example of divine providence.
2000 S. Sturgeon Matters of Mind i. 27 Just as belief that water is before you (plus thirst) rationalizes reaching out, visual experience representing water before you (plus thirst) rationalizes reaching out.
b. transitive. To explain away rationally.
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1855 C. Kingsley in N. Brit. Rev. May 1/1 To rationalize away all the wonders, till we make them at last impossible, and give up caring to believe them.
1971 T. Alexander 2150 A.D. (1976) vii. 98 These old habitual limiting thought patterns were so easy to disguise, to ignore, or to rationalize away.
2004 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) May 60/2 Anasognosic patients typically rationalize away unwelcome facts, giving plausible but invented explanations of their unconsciously motivated actions.
c. transitive. Psychology. To explain or justify (one's behaviour or attitude) to oneself or others with plausible but specious reasons, usually unwittingly. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > transfer of feelings > sympathize [verb (intransitive)] > justify
rationalize1913
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > transfer of feelings > attribute to other [verb (transitive)] > justify
rationalize1913
1913 Trans. Assoc. Amer. Physicians 28 524 The child is led to seek some explanation of his distress, which he dislikes and does not clearly understand. To use Dr. Ernest Jones' term, he instinctively seeks to ‘rationalize’ his distresses.
1922 H. Somerville Pract. Psycho-anal. i. 14 It is clear that patient is rationalising, and that as a matter of fact he is eaten up with jealousy.
1925 J. Riviere et al. tr. S. Freud Coll. Papers III. 330 The patient's consciousness naturally misunderstands them and puts forward a set of secondary motives to account for them—rationalizes them, in short.
1966 Word Study Dec. 3/2 I think we all rationalize with the thought that the free democratic society which produced us..had a right to be presented (sic) in such a fashion.
1983 I. Watson Bk. of River (1984) ii. 56 I had not dared tell my mother or my father, rationalizing this failure of courage on my part as a responsible decision—since anguish..might make my mother miscarry.
2004 H. Kunzru Transmission (2005) 117 At the time he had rationalized the purchase of the apartment as a networking opportunity.
d. transitive. With clause as object: to argue as a justification.
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1977 P. Forbath River Congo 282 So Stanley decided to join in Mtesa's war, rationalizing that with his assistance the war..would be significantly shortened.
1989 M. Collins Death on 30 Beat ix. 84 I rationalized that I might meet somebody useful and stepped inside for a quick one.
2008 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Jan. 103/2 By 1938 the magistrate's successor had..adopted survival-mode thinking, rationalizing that the island needed all the population it could muster.
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1736 E. Smith Cure of Deism II. xix. 318 Other Heathens..seem to require a long Preparation from fore-running Traffick and Commerce to humanize, and rationalize them, before the Pearls of Christianity..can be received into their Esteem.
1793 R. Potter Serm. 30 From the manner in which these metaphysical politicians speak of our Ancestors, one would think they were a Horde of Orang-Outangs that..wanted the new scientific principle to rationalize, and organize, and fraternize them.
1896 [implied in: Spectator 11 Apr. 519 Swift's grim conceptions of animalized man and rationalized animals. (at rationalized adj. 1)] ].
3. intransitive. To employ reason or rationalism; to think rationally or in a rationalistic manner.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > employ reason [verb (intransitive)]
to speak reasona1400
to listen to (also hear) reason1535
take better way with youa1556
rationalize1805
1805 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1962) II. 2516 But so it would be with a man bred up in a Wilderness by unseen Beings, who should yet converse and rationalize.
1835 J. H. Newman Lett. & Corr. (1891) II. 137 When we ask for reasons when we should not, we rationalise.
1869 R. Browning Ring & Bk. III. viii. 145 But subdue the bard And rationalize a little.
1911 C. S. H. Brereton & F. Rothwell tr. H. L. Bergson Laughter i. 41 ‘A red nose is a painted nose’, ‘A negro is a white man in disguise’, are also absurd to the reason which rationalises; but they are gospel truths to pure imagination.
1956 J. Barth Floating Opera xix. 184 I can philosophize (or rationalize) like two Kants, like seven Philadelphia lawyers.
1982 K. Levitin & V. V. Davydov One is not born Personality 136 He still believes he works at his former job in Podolsk. He rationalises with the remnants of his reason to compensate for acute emotional disturbances.
4.
a. transitive. Mathematics. To convert (a function, expression, etc.) into a rational form; to remove irrational quantities from.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > algebra > perform algebra [verb (transitive)] > eliminate quantity or simplify
cancel1543
lessen1668
destroy1706
eliminate1736
exterminate1743
rationalize1816
1816 G. Peacock in C. Babbage tr. S. F. Lacroix Elem. Treat. Differential & Integral Calculus Note 1. 670 The differential function..may be rationalized.
1888 C. Smith Treat. Algebra (1893) 213 Find factors which will rationalize the following expressions.
1923 Amer. Math. Monthly 30 206 Rationalize α½ + β½ + ··· μ½ + ν½ + p = 0.
1997 D. E. Ashe et al. Teaching Secondary Math. i. 16 We would not expect a student to rationalize an algebraic expression if that student had not been exposed to fractions and many other prerequisite skills.
b. transitive. Physics. To reformulate (units, equations, and definitions of electromagnetism) so that the factor 4π is removed from those relating to systems without spherical symmetry. Cf. rationalized adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrically induced magnetism > cause to rise [verb (transitive)] > rationalize
rationalize1892
1892 Nature 28 July 292/2 It is..very desirable that the practical units themselves should be rationalized.
1899 Electrician 29 Dec. 325/2 If we take the permeability of ether to be 4π units instead of unity, we rationalize at one stroke all our present units except the units of magnetic force and magnetic pole strength.
1973 J. Yarwood Electr. & Magn. ii. 32 In rationalising electrical units the object..is to avoid the occurrence of 4π in systems without spherical symmetry and of 2π where cylindrical symmetry is absent.
5.
a. transitive. To make (a business, industry, manufacturing process, etc.) more efficient by reorganizing it in accordance with rational principles so as to reduce or eliminate waste of labour, time, or materials (chiefly Economics). Also: spec. to reduce the number of (personnel, industrial plants, etc.) in such a way that the remainder are more efficiently deployed.
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society > trade and finance > management of money > management of national resources > [verb (transitive)] > apply specific policies to
protect1778
rationalize1926
sterilize1930
reflate1932
maximize1943
overheat1956
inflation-proof1973
1926 E. Grossmann Methods Econ. Rapprochement 30 International cartels will be able to rationalise production in a way impossible in the present state of affairs.
1931 Ann. Reg. 1930 ii. 26 The Lancashire cotton industry. The steps taken to ‘rationalise’ the industry.
1953 J. B. Carroll Study of Lang. iv. 127 A recent attempt to rationalize an artificial language by making maximal use of elements common to the most widely used natural languages is Interlingua.
1962 Listener 22 Mar. 509/2 Their numbers go down: they are ‘rationalized’. In 1920 there were nine evening newspapers in London; now there are two.
1977 R.A.F. News 11 May 7/2 I am..aware..of the need to rationalise reporting systems to reduce paperwork.
2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma ii. 50 Since a smaller number of farmers could now feed America, the moment had come to ‘rationalize’ agriculture by letting the market force prices down and farmers off the land.
b. intransitive. To make an organization or process more efficient by the application of rational principles (spec. by the reduction of personnel, etc.).
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1969 Listener 14 Aug. 205/1 This seems to me exactly what is happening at the BBC, new brooms bustling about tidying up, rationalising and sorting out on very ill-thought-out principles.
1989 Constr. News 22 June 29/2 We also want to capitalise on existing sales outlets, but we will have to rationalise in some areas—there is no need for duplication.
2005 R. Bean Harvest 86 Stephan We're gonna rationalise down to four acres!
Derivatives
ˈrationalizer n. a person who rationalizes.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > one who is reasonable
philosopher1600
rationalist1625
rational1755
reasonable1814
rationalizer1826
1826 B. Powell Rational Relig. Examined 240 The liberality of the German rationalizers is exactly on a level with that of the English fanatics.
1986 Time Inc. (Nexis) 21 June 116 First, we have the rationalizers. Having set a profit goal and missed it badly, you hear nothing about how they did their darndest.
ˈrationalizing n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > making rational
rationalizing1803
rationalization1846
1803 Brit. Critic 21 327 There is much..that marks the spirit..of the rationalizing Christians.
1865 J. S. Mill Auguste Comte 54 The way to a complete rationalizing of those sciences..has been shown nowhere so successfully as there.
1927 A. Huxley Let. 25 Feb. (1969) 284 I can't see that there's anything to distinguish his rationalizings of religious emotions from those of anyone else.
1971 P. Gresswell Environment 105 Footpaths in some parishes need reorganising and rationalising for today's needs.
1993 Harper's Mag. May 38 I wonder if my mission to..seduce her into loving life isn't all just so much rationalizing claptrap.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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