English Synonyms and Antonyms

demonstrated or proved so as to secure general acceptance is said to be established. Reason is a neutral word,
not, like argue, debate, discuss, etc., naturally or necessarily implying contest. We reason about a matter by
bringing up all that reason can give us on any side. A dispute may be personal, fractious, and petty; a debate is
formal and orderly; if otherwise, it becomes a mere wrangle.
Prepositions:
We reason with a person about a subject, for or against an opinion; we reason a person into or out of a course
of action; or we may reason down an opponent or opposition; one reasons from a cause to an effect.
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REASON, n.
Synonyms:
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
243

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account, cause, end, motive, principle, aim, consideration, ground, object, purpose. argument, design,
While the cause of any event, act, or fact, as commonly understood, is the power that makes it to be, the
reason of or for it is the explanation given by the human mind; but reason is, in popular language, often used
as equivalent to cause, especially in the sense of final cause. In the statement of any reasoning, the argument
may be an entire syllogism, or the premises considered together apart from the conclusion, or in logical
strictness the middle term only by which the particular conclusion is connected with the general statement.
But when the reasoning is not in strict logical form, the middle term following the conclusion is called the
reason; thus in the statement "All tyrants deserve death; Cæsar was a tyrant; Therefore Cæsar deserved
death," "Cæsar was a tyrant" would in the strictest sense be called the argument; but if we say "Cæsar
deserved death because he was a tyrant," the latter clause would be termed the reason. Compare CAUSE;
REASON, v.; MIND; REASONING.
Prepositions:
The reason of a thing that is to be explained; the reason for a thing that is to be done.
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REASONING.
Synonyms:
argument, argumentation, debate, ratiocination.
Argumentation and debate, in the ordinary use of the words, suppose two parties alleging reasons for and
against a proposition; the same idea appears figuratively when we speak of a debate or an argument with
oneself, or of a debate between reason and conscience. Reasoning may be the act of one alone, as it is simply
the orderly setting forth of reasons, whether for the instruction of inquirers, the confuting of opponents, or the
clear establishment of truth for oneself. Reasoning may be either deductive or inductive. Argument or
argumentation was formerly used of deductive reasoning only. With the rise of the inductive philosophy these
words have come to be applied to inductive processes also; but while reasoning may be informal or even (as
far as tracing its processes is concerned) unconscious, argument and argumentation strictly imply logical
form. Reasoning, as denoting a process, is a broader term than reason or argument; many arguments or
reasons may be included in a single chain of reasoning.
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REBELLIOUS.
Synonyms:
contumacious, mutinous, uncontrollable, disobedient, refractory, ungovernable, insubordinate, seditious,
unmanageable. intractable,
Rebellious signifies being in a state of rebellion (see REBELLION under REVOLUTION), and is even
extended to inanimate things that resist control or adaptation to human use. Ungovernable applies to that
which successfully defies authority and power; unmanageable to that which resists the utmost exercise of skill
or of skill and power combined; rebellious, to that which is defiant of authority, whether successfully or
unsuccessfully; seditious, to that which partakes of or tends to excite a rebellious spirit, seditious suggesting
more of covert plan, scheming, or conspiracy, rebellious more of overt act or open violence. While the