Word.ws English Dictionary

rationalizes

rationalizes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rationalize.

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

Phrases with rationalizes

Questions about rationalizes

What is rationalizes the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Rationalizes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rationalize.

Words near rationalizes in the dictionary

  1. rationalizations
  2. rationalize
  3. rationalized
  4. rationalizer
  5. rationalizers
  6. rationalizes
  7. rationalizing
  8. rationalizings
  9. rationall
  10. rationally
  11. rationalness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rationalizes (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: “rationalizes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rationalizes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.