Reason Meaning
/ˈɹiːzən/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA cause:
nounA cause:, That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
Sentence Examples
For some reason I feel more alive at night.
You are too old not to see the reason.
He said no but he didn't give a reason.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The scientist gave a clear ____ for the unusual results in the experiment.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She could see no good ____ to change a strategy that had been working well for three years.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English resoun, reson, from Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin ratiō, from ratus, past participle of reor (“reckon”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁- (“to think”), reanalysed root of *h₂er- (“to put together”). Displaced native Middle English reden (found in compounds), from Old English rǣden (“condition, stipulation, calculation, direction”), from the same Proto-Indo-European source (compare West Frisian reden (“reason”), Dutch reden (“reason”)). Doublet of ration and ratio.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There is a reason why so many should be symmetrical: The selective advantage in a symmetrical complex is enjoyed by all the subunits[…]"
— 1996, Daniel Clement Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, page 198:
"Ralph Touchett, for reasons best known to himself, had seen fit to say that Gilbert Osmond was not a good fellow[…]"
— 1908, Henry James, chapter 10, in The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James), New York edition, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC; republished as The Portrait of a Lady (EBook #283), United States: Project Gutenberg, 1 September 2001:
"I have forgotten the reason he gave for not travelling by air. I felt sure that it was not the correct reason, and that he suffered from a heart trouble which he kept to himself."
— 1966, Graham Greene, The Comedians, Penguin Classics, →ISBN, page 14:
"The tremendous tragedy in which he had been involved - it was evident he was a fugitive from Weybridge - had driven him to the very verge of his reason."
— 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 113:
"And the specific distinction between man and beast is now, strictly speaking, no longer reason (the lumen naturale of the human animal) but science[…]"
— 1970, Hannah Arendt, On Violence, →ISBN, page 62:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The scientist gave a clear ____ for the unusual results in the experiment.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She could see no good ____ to change a strategy that had been working well for three years.