English

Noun

ratiocination ‎(plural ratiocinations)

1. Reasoning, conscious deliberate inference; the activity or process of reasoning.
   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 1

     He'd run in debt by disputation, \ And pay with ratiocination.

   • 1916, New York Times, "Suffrage at Chicago"

     It is hard to follow the kinks of woman suffrage ratiocination.

2. Thought or reasoning that is exact, valid and rational.
3. A proposition arrived at by such thought.

Synonyms

• reasoning

Related terms

• ratiocinate
• ratiocinative
• ratiocinatory

Translations

See also

• logic
• syllogism

References

• J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.

External links

• ratiocination in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ratiocination in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911