rational
/ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/
rational adjective: capable of reasoning.
Adjective
rational (comparative more rational, superlative most rational)
- Capable of reasoning.
- Man is a rational creature.
- The utility of valid arguments is a monument to our frailty: to the fact that we are not completely rational beings.2001, Mark Sainsbury, chapter 1, in Logical Forms — An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, 2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, §7, page 32
- Behaving according to some partial order of preferences.
- Logically sound; not self-contradictory or otherwise absurd.
- His statements were quite rational.
- Prevention for the future is now almost universally allowed to be the only rational plea for the infliction of punishment; but this, when left to the arbitrary discretion of individuals, always has been found, and always will be found, to degenerate into the exercise of revenge for the past.1812 The Freethinking Christians' Magazine: Volume 2 p. 21
- Healthy or balanced intellectually; exhibiting reasonableness.
- rational conduct
- Temperature 99.8 degrees. Pulse 104. She was quite conscious and rational at times, at others very noisy.1867 C. Handfield Jones, Case Of Low Fever: Delirium: Incomplete Dementia. The British Medical Journal Vol. 2, No. 344, Aug. 3
- Of a number, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two integers.
- ¾ is a rational number, but √2 is an irrational number.
- Of an algebraic expression in indeterminates, or more generally a function: capable of being expressed as the ratio of two polynomials.
- Of a variety: (informally) geometrically simple almost everywhere; (formally) birationally equivalent to projective space
- Of a function between varieties: acting as a morphism on an open subset of its domain.
- Of a point on an algebraic variety over a field: whose coordinates belong to the field in question (in contrast to those points of the variety which are only defined over the algebraic closure of the base field).
- synonymous replacement for "condensed" in condensed formula.
Noun (1)
rational (plural rationals)
- A rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.
- The quotient of two rationals is again a rational.
Noun (2)
rational (plural rationals)
- The breastplate worn by Israelite high priests.
- The Rationale of iudgement alſo thou shalt mke with embrodered worke of diuers colours, according to the workmanship of the Ephod of gold, hyacinth, and purple, and ſcarlet twiſe died, and twiſted ſilke.1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Laurence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Exodus 28:15, page 234
rational meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
rational in Hindi
- capable of reasoning
- तार्किक tārkik
- arithmetic: of an algebraic expression
- परिमेय parimey
- reasonable; not absurd
- तार्किक tārkik
- arithmetic: of a number
- परिमेय parimey
rational in Tamil
- அறிவார்ந்த, பகுத்துணரவல்ல, விவேகமுள்ள
rational in Marathi
- तर्कशुद्ध, तर्कसंगत, तर्कबुद्धीपूर्ण
rational in Urdu
- منطقی, استدلالی, عقلی, معقول
More languagesFewer languages
- rational in Bengali
- মূলদ, যুক্তিসঙ্গত, বুদ্ধিমান, যুক্তিসম্মত
- rational in Telugu
- హేతుబద్దమైన hētubaddamaina
- rational in Malayalam
- യുക്തിസഹം yuktisahaṁ
- rational in Kannada
- ತೀರ್ಮಾನಿಸಬಲ್ಲ, ಓರಬಲ್ಲ, ಯುಕ್ತಾಯುಕ್ತಪರಿಜ್ಞಾನವುಳ್ಳ, ವಿವೇಕದ
- rational in Punjabi
- ਤਰਕਸ਼ੀਲ, ਤਰਕਸੰਗਤ
- rational in Gujarati
- તર્કસંગત, તર્કપૂર્ણ, તર્કયુક્ત
- rational in Sanskrit
- सांख्य sāṃkhya
- rational in Nepali
- तर्कसंगत, तर्कपूर्ण
- rational in Pashto
- هوښيار húx̌yâr
- rational in Tagalog
- matwirin, tagwayin
- rational in Arabic
- عَقْلَانِيّ ʕaqlāniyy
- rational in Indonesian
- rasional
- rational in Vietnamese
- hợp lí, hợp lý
Examples of rational in a sentence
- Every rational number can be written as either a terminating decimal or a recurring decimal.
- Rational numbers are susceptible of description as quotients of two integers.
- Rational numbers are a countable set, so almost all numbers are irrational.
Antonyms of rational
Forms of rational
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more rational |
| superlative | most rational |
| alternative form (obsolete) | rationall |
| Noun | |
| plural | rationals |
Origin of rational
From Old French rationel, rational, from Latin rationalis (“of or belonging to reason, rational, reasonable; having a ratio”), from ratio (“reason; calculation”).
From Old French rational, from Medieval Latin rationale (“a pontifical stole, a pallium, an ornament worn over the chasuble”), neuter of Latin rationalis (“rational”), for which see the first etymology. Translation of λογεῖον (logeîon) or perhaps λόγιον (lógion, “oracle”) in the Septuagint version of Exodus 28.
Words formed from rational
- antirational
- biorational
- birational
- contrarational
- extrarational
- hyperrational
- nonrational
- overrational
- prerational
- preterrational
- pseudorational
- Ratfor
- rational basis review
- rational choice theory
- rational dress
- rational egoism
- rational egoist
- rational function
- rational horizon
- rationalisation
- rationalism
- rationalist
- rationalistic
- rationalization
- rationally
- rational numbers
- rational root theorem
- rational selfishness
- rational symptom
- semirational
- superrational
- transrational
- ultrarational
- unirational
- unrational
Phrases with rational
Words that rhyme with rational
Questions about rational
- What does rational mean?
- Rational means capable of reasoning.
- What is rational in Hindi?
- Rational in Hindi is तार्किक (tārkik), परिमेय (parimey). See Rational meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rational?
- Rational can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce rational?
- Rational is pronounced /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/.
Words near rational in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rational (page history and authors); rational (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rational (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rational (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rational (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); യുക്തിസഹം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); rational (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rational (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rational (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); सांख्य (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); rational (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); هوښيار (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “rational.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rational. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.