reasoning

American  

[ree-zuh-ning, reez-ning] / ˈri zə nɪŋ, ˈriz nɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or process of a person who reasons.

2. the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.

3. the reasons, arguments, proofs, etc., resulting from this process.

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reasoning British  

/ ˈriːzənɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or process of drawing conclusions from facts, evidence, etc

2. the arguments, proofs, etc, so adduced

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Other Word Forms

• half-reasoning adjective
• nonreasoning adjective
• reasoningly adverb

Etymology

Origin of reasoning

First recorded in 1325–75, reasoning is from the Middle English word resoninge. See reason, -ing ²

Explanation

Reasoning is a logical, thoughtful way of thinking. When your teacher explains the reasoning behind his classroom rules, he makes it clear exactly why and how he came up with them. Voters often want to understand the reasoning behind certain laws, and toddlers almost always want to know the reasoning behind rules about bedtime and wearing warm clothes on cold days. You can also use reasoning as an adjective, to describe someone who can think logically. A reasoning adult can make decisions for herself. The word comes from reason, which is rooted in the Old French raisoner, "discuss or argue," and the Late Latin rationare, "to discourse."

Example Sentences

For example, statements like "AI needs to understand the real world" can imply expectations tied to human reasoning, ethics, or awareness.

From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2026

Mythos — trained to perform deep, multistep reasoning at higher intensities than previous models — is exceptionally good at finding and exploiting vulnerabilities.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 18, 2026

Since the dawn of writing, we’ve used a little trick called symbolic reasoning, aka math.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

This reasoning assumes a healthy, functioning democracy where politicians earn trust and legitimacy, and then are held accountable for betraying it.

From Salon • Apr. 16, 2026

The usual reasoning is instead circular: because technological differences exist, the existence of corresponding ideological differences is inferred.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• acumen
• analysis
• argument
• hypothesis
• inference
• interpretation
• premise
• proposition
• rationale
• thinking