Word.ws English Dictionary

unreason

unreason noun: lack of reason or rationality; unreasonableness; irrationality.

Noun

unreason (usually uncountable, plural unreasons)

  1. (usually) Lack of reason or rationality; unreasonableness; irrationality.
    • Another day the same Frier made another Sermon of the Abbot of Unreason, unto whom, and whose Laws, he compareth Prelats of that age; for they were subject to no Laws, no more than was the Abbot of Unreason.c. 1566, John Knox, The Historie of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland, Book I, London: 1644
    • […] it was long ere these scandalous and immoral sports could be abrogated;—the rude multitude continued attached to their favourite pastimes, and, both in England and Scotland, the mitre of the Catholic—the rochet of the reformed bishop—and the cloak and band of the Calvinistic divine—were, in...1820, Walter Scott, chapter 14, in The Abbot
  2. (usually) Nonsense; folly; absurdity.

Verb

unreason (third-person singular simple present unreasons, present participle unreasoning, simple past and past participle unreasoned)

  1. (rare, transitive) To prove to be unreasonable; disprove by argument.
    • The reason of the unreasonable usage my reason has met with, so unreasons my reason, that I have reason to complain of your beauty :" and how did he enjoy the following flower of composition ! "1796, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Tobias George Smollett: translator), The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote
    • The elenchus enables him to overturn the formerly secure reasoning of his interlocutors about the subjects they discourse on so confidently—until the Socratic elenchus gradually unreasons them (see especially Meno, 80A—B).2013, Norman Bryson, Michael Ann Holly, Keith Moxey, Visual Culture: Images and Interpretations, →ISBN, page 191
  2. (rare) To apply false logic or think without logic.
    • After some trouble I have got the Programme, and now send it on to you ; I beg you to transcribe the first ten pages, in which he reasons, or rather unreasons, about homeopathy, and then send the Programme back to me, as I do not know how to procure another copy.1889, The Homoeopathic World - Volume 24, page 251
    • In other, happier times, the mind could unreason freely, as if it belonged to no age, emancipated as it was...1985, Reginald Gibbons, Susan Hahn, TQ 20: Twenty Years of the Best Contemporary Writing and Graphics from TriQuarterly Magazine, page 89
  3. (rare) To make unreasonable; to deprive of reason.
    • Unbelief unreasons a man: so the Apostle joyns them, when he prays to be delivered from unreasonable men; for all men have not faith.1646, Thomas Case, Deliverance-obstruction, page 12
    • My pathetic collapse provoked them. My unreasonableness unreasoned them.2010, Tim Roux -, Shade+shadows: And Suddenly, Silently, They Simply Disappeared, →ISBN

unreason meaning in Tamil and Urdu

unreason in Tamil

முரடு, அறாவிலை, குதர்க்கம்

unreason in Urdu

بےاستدلال, دیوانگی

Examples of unreason in a sentence

  • What is called the great popular heart was awakened, that indefinable something which may be, according to circumstances, the highest reason or the most brutish unreason.1864, James Russell Lowell, “Abraham Lincoln”, in My Study Windows, 4th edition, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, published...
  • The Harlem Dance Theater performances showed beyond doubt that the practice was based not on rhyme but on prejudiced unreason.1971 March 22, John T. Elson, “Doing the Thing You Do Best”, in Time:
  • The best preservative for unreason is to make a religion of it.2014 April 22, Garry Wills, “Obamacare: The Hate Can’t Be Cured”, in New York Review of Books:
  • Being a father can “unreason” your worldview, or at least make it very flexible, and that can create all sorts of fun and insights.2017, Adams Media, DAD: Hundreds of Awesome Quotes about the Guy Who Does It All, →ISBN:

Forms of unreason

Noun
pluralunreasons
Verb
third-person singular presentunreasons
present participleunreasoning
past participleunreasoned
pastunreasoned

Origin of unreason

From Middle English unreson; equivalent to un- + reason.

Phrases with unreason

Questions about unreason

What does unreason mean?
Unreason means lack of reason or rationality; unreasonableness; irrationality.
What is unreason in Tamil?
Unreason in Tamil is முரடு, அறாவிலை, குதர்க்கம். See Unreason meaning in Tamil.
How do you use unreason in a sentence?
What is called the great popular heart was awakened, that indefinable something which may be, according to circumstances, the highest reason or the most brutish unreason.
What part of speech is unreason?
Unreason can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of unreason?
The plural of unreason is unreasons.

Words near unreason in the dictionary

  1. unreamed
  2. unreaped
  3. unreared
  4. unrearrangeable
  5. unrearranged
  6. unreason
  7. unreasonabilities
  8. unreasonability
  9. unreasonable
  10. unreasonableness
  11. unreasonablenesses

Source and license

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