rationale

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ra=tion=ale

CIDE DICTIONARY

rationale, n. [L. rationalis, neut. rationale. See Rational, a.].

 An explanation or exposition of the principles of some opinion, action, hypothesis, phenomenon, or the like; also, the principles themselves.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

rationale, n.
1 (often foll. by of) the fundamental reason or logical basis of anything.
2 a reasoned exposition; a statement of reasons.

Etymology

mod.L, neut. of L rationalis: see RATIONAL

THESAURUS

rationale

account, allegorization, clarification, cracking, decipherment, decoding, demonstration, demythologization, editing, elucidation, emendation, enlightenment, euhemerism, excuse, exegesis, exemplification, explanation, explication, exposition, expounding, grounds, illumination, illustration, justification, light, logic, philosophy, pretense, pretext, principle, rational ground, rationalization, reason, reason for, reason why, reasoning, simplification, solution, stated cause, the big idea, the idea, the whatfor, the wherefore, the why, theory, underlying reason, unlocking

ROGET THESAURUS

rationale

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Attribution

N attribution, theory, etiology, ascription, reference to, rationale, accounting for, palaetiology, imputation, derivation from, filiation, affiliation, pedigree, explanation, reason why, attributed, attributable, referable to, referrible to, due to, derivable from, owing to, putative, ecbatic, hence, thence, therefore, for, since, on account of, because, owing to, on that account, from this cause, from that cause, thanks to, forasmuch as, whence, propter hoc, why? wherefore? whence? how comes it, how is it, how happens it? how does it happen? in some way, in some such way, somehow, somehow or other, that is why, hinc illae lachrymae.

Answer

N answer, response, reply, replication, riposte, rejoinder, surrejoinder, rebutter, surrebutter, retort, repartee, rescript, rescription, antiphon, antiphony, acknowledgment, password, echo, counter statement, discovery, solution, rationale, clue, Oedipus, oracle, return, answering, responsive, respondent, conclusive, because, on the scent, on the right scent, Int, eureka!.

Interpretation

N interpretation, definition, explanation, explication, solution, answer, rationale, plain interpretation, simple interpretation, strict interpretation, meaning, translation, rendering, rendition, redition, literal translation, free translation, key, secret, clew, clavis, crib, pony, trot, exegesis, expounding, exposition, hermeneutics, comment, commentary, inference, illustration, exemplification, gloss, annotation, scholium, note, elucidation, dilucidation, eclaircissement, mot d'enigme, symptomatology, semiology, semeiology, semiotics, metoposcopy, physiognomy, paleography, oneirology acception, acceptation, acceptance, light, reading, lection, construction, version, equivalent, equivalent meaning, synonym, paraphrase, metaphrase, convertible terms, apposition, dictionary, polyglot, explanatory, expository, explicative, explicatory, exegetical, construable, polyglot, literal, paraphrastic, metaphrastic, consignificative, synonymous, equivalent, in explanation, that is to say, id est, videlicet, to wit, namely, in other words, literally, strictly speaking, in plain, in plainer terms, in plainer words, in plainer English, more simply.