Word.ws English Dictionary

rationalized

rationalized is the alternative spelling of rationalised.

rationalized is the simple past and past participle of rationalize.

Meaning of rationalised

Adjective

rationalised (not comparable)

  1. Given a rational explanation
  2. Reorganised, made more efficient.
    • Advantage has been taken of the rationalised platforming to produce a new-style departure sheet for the West Side of Liverpool Street.1961 January, “The North-East London electrification of the Great Eastern Line”, in Trains Illustrated, page 21

Meaning of rationalize

Verb

rationalize (third-person singular simple present rationalizes, present participle rationalizing, simple past and past participle rationalized)

  1. (British, English, Oxford, US) To make something rational or more rational.
  2. (British, English, Oxford, US) To justify a discreditable act, or irrational behaviour.
    • Vested interest, united ties, / landed gentry, rationalize. / Look who bought the myth. / By jingo, buy America.1987, “Exhuming McCarthy”, in Document (R.E.M. No. 5), performed by R.E.M.
  3. (British, English, Oxford, US) To remove radicals, without changing the value of an expression or the roots of an equation.
  4. (British, English, Oxford, US) To structure something along modern, efficient and systematic lines, or according to scientific principles. This often includes eliminating duplication and grouping like or similar items.
    • At our October meeting, Membership Director George Kaufer suggested rationalizing schedules on the Morris & Essex and Montclair-Boonton trains. He had prepared peak-hour schedules with a focus on ensuring that trains to Hoboken alternate more equally with those to New York, rather than having a...2024 11, Sally Jane Gellert, “Report from the Chair”, in Lackawanna Coalition Railgram

Forms of rationalized

comparativemore rationalized
superlativemost rationalized

Words formed from rationalized

Phrases with rationalized

Questions about rationalized

What is rationalized the alternative spelling of?
Rationalized is the alternative spelling of rationalised.

Words near rationalized in the dictionary

  1. rationalization
  2. rationalization hamster
  3. rationalization hamsters
  4. rationalizations
  5. rationalize
  6. rationalized
  7. rationalizer
  8. rationalizers
  9. rationalizes
  10. rationalizing
  11. rationalizings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rationalized (page history and authors); rationalised (page history and authors); rationalize (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: “rationalized.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rationalized. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.