ratiocination

[ rash-ee-os-uh-ney-shuhn, -oh-suh-, rat-ee- ]

noun

1. the process of logical reasoning.

Other Words From

• rati·oci·native adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ratiocination¹

1520–30; < Latin ratiōcinātiōn- (stem of ratiōcinātiō ), equivalent to ratiōcināt ( us ) ( ratiocinate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

This is a genre, after all, invented by Edgar Allan Poe, for whom the boundaries between his “tales of terror” and his “tales of ratiocination” were porous.

From Washington Post

In the midst of all the postmortem ratiocination, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that climbing mountains will never be a safe, predictable, rule-bound enterprise.

From Literature

Mr. Sharpe addressed him directly, asking if the boy were capable yet of ratiocination, or was become dumb.

From Literature

Those cases — and Sherlock Holmes’s ratiocinations — are fated to remain forever untold, mentioned in Dr. Watson’s chronicles but never explained beyond these baroque references, with their nearly comic grotesqueries.

From New York Times

After vain and vexatious jugglings with the dry tissues of unchastened ratiocination, simplicity and even ignorance brought their solace.

From Project Gutenberg