| Main Entry: | rationale |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | logic for belief, action |
Synonyms: |
account, excuse, explanation, exposition, grounds, hypothesis, justification, motivation, motive, philosophy, principle, raison d'être, rationalization, reason, reasons, song and dance, sour grapes, story*, the big idea, the whole idea, theory, whatfor, why and wherefore, whyfor |
| Notes: | a rationale is given for a future course of action, whereas a rationalization is offered for a past action |
| Main Entry: | rationale |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
Related
Adjectives: |
Aristotelian, analytical, argumentative, attributable, attributed, automorphic, biconditional, cogent, cognitive, coherent, controversial, controvertible, cumulative, cut-and-dried, debatable, definitive, derivable from, dialectic, dianoetic, didactic, discursive, discursory, disputatious, due to, epistemic, esemplastic, eudemonistic, facultative, forensic, hebamic, implausible, irrelevant, logical, lucid, moot, noetic, owing to, paralogic, perspicacious, perspicuous, polemical, putative, rational, rationalistic, reasoning, referable, referrible, relevant, specious, synthetic, tenable, thought-out, unilateral, viable, watertight, well-founded, well-grounded, well-taken
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| Main Entry: | account |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | basis or consideration for action |
Synonyms: |
cause, ground, grounds, interest, justification, motive, rationale, rationalization, reason, regard, sake |
| Main Entry: | definition |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | description |
Synonyms: |
analogue, annotation, answer, characterization, clarification, clue, comment, commentary, cue, delimitation, delineation, demarcation, denotation, determination, diagnosis, drift, elucidation, exemplification, explanation, explication, exposition, expounding, fixing, formalization, gloss, individuation, interpretation, key, outlining, rationale, rendering, rendition, representation, settling, signification, solution, statement of meaning, terminology, translation |
Antonyms: |
ambiguity, nonsense, vagueness |
| Main Entry: | grounds |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | basis, premise |
Synonyms: |
account, antecedent, argument, base, bedrock, call, cause, chapter and verse, demonstration, determinant, dope*, evidence, excuse, factor, footing, foundation, goods*, groundwork, inducement, info, information*, infrastructure, justification, motive, numbers, occasion, pretext, proof, rationale, reason, root*, seat, straight stuff, substratum, test, testimony, trial, underpinning, wherefore, why, whyfor |
| Main Entry: | hypothesis |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | theory |
Synonyms: |
antecedent, apriority, assignment, assumption, attribution, axiom, basis, belief, conclusion, condition, conjecture, data, deduction, demonstration, derivation, explanation, foundation, ground, guess, inference, interpretation, layout, lemma, philosophy, plan, position, postulate, premise, presupposition, principle, proposal, proposition, rationale, reason, scheme, shot in the dark, speculation, starting point, suggestion, supposition, surmise, system, tentative law, term, theorem, thesis |
Antonyms: |
calcualtion, measurement, proof, reality, truth |
| Main Entry: | incentive |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | lure, inducement |
Synonyms: |
allurement, bait, carrot, catalyst, come-on, consideration, determinant, drive, encouragement, enticement, excuse, exhortation, goad, ground, impetus, impulse, incitement, influence, insistence, inspiration, instigation, motivation, motive, persuasion, provocation, purpose, rationale, reason, reason why, spring, spur, stimulant, stimulation, stimulus, temptation, urge, whip |
| Notes: | the temporal orientation of incentive is toward the future; that of inducement is toward the past |
Antonyms: |
block, hindrance, turn-off |
| Main Entry: | justification |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | reason, excuse |
Synonyms: |
absolution, account, acquittal, advocacy, answer, apologia, apology, approval, argument, basis, confirmation, defense, exculpation, exoneration, explanation, extenuation, grounds, idea, mitigation, palliation, palliative, plea, pretext, raison d'être, rationale, rationalization, rebuttal, redemption, reply, response, salvation, sanctification, song and dance, story, support, validation, vindication, warrant, whatfor, wherefore, whitewashing, whole idea, why and wherefore |
| Main Entry: | logic |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | science of reasoning |
Synonyms: |
antithesis and synthesis, argumentation, coherence, connection, course of thought, deduction, dialectic, good sense, induction, inference, linkage, philosophy, ratiocination, rationale, relationship, sanity, sense, sound judgment, syllogism, syllogistics, thesis, train of thought |
Antonyms: |
unreasonableness |
| Main Entry: | motive |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | reason, purpose |
Synonyms: |
aim, antecedent, basis, cause, consideration, design, determinant, drive, emotion, end, feeling, grounds, idea, impulse, incentive, incitement, inducement, influence, inspiration, intent, intention, mainspring, motivation, object, occasion, passion, rationale, root, spring, spur, stimulus, thinking |
Antonyms: |
deterrent, discouragement, hindrance |