Rational

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Rational \Ra"tion*al\, n.
     A rational being. --Young.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Rational \Ra"tion*al\ (r[a^]sh"[u^]n*al), a. [L. rationalis: cf.
     F. rationnel. See {Ratio}, {Reason}, and cf. {Rationale}.]
     1. Relating to the reason; not physical; mental.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Moral philosophy was his chiefest end; for the
              rational, the natural, and mathematics . . . were
              but simple pastimes in comparison of the other.
                                                    --Sir T.
                                                    North.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with
        reason or understanding; reasoning.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It is our glory and happiness to have a rational
              nature.                               --Law.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Agreeable to reason; not absurd, preposterous,
        extravagant, foolish, fanciful, or the like; wise;
        judicious; as, rational conduct; a rational man.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Chem.) Expressing the type, structure, relations, and
        reactions of a compound; graphic; -- said of formulae. See
        under {Formula}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Rational horizon}. (Astron.) See {Horizon}, 2
        (b) .
  
     {Rational quantity} (Alg.), one that can be expressed without
        the use of a radical sign, or in exact parts of unity; --
        opposed to {irrational} or {radical quantity}.
  
     {Rational symptom} (Med.), one elicited by the statements of
        the patient himself and not as the result of a physical
        examination.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Sane; sound; intelligent; reasonable; sensible; wise;
          discreet; judicious.
  
     Usage: {Rational}, {reasonable}. Rational has reference to
            reason as a faculty of the mind, and is opposed to
            irrational; as, a rational being, a rational state of
            mind, rational views, etc. In these cases the
            speculative reason is more particularly, referred to.
            Reasonable has reference to the exercise of this
            faculty for practical purposes, and means, governed or
            directed by reason; as, reasonable desires or plans; a
            reasonable charge; a reasonable prospect of success.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  What higher in her society thou find'st
                  Attractive, human, rational, love still.
                                                    --Milton.
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                  A law may be reasonable in itself, although a
                  man does not allow it, or does not know the
                  reason of the lawgivers.          --Swift.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  rational
       adj 1: consistent with or based on or using reason; "rational
              behavior"; "a process of rational inference";
              "rational thought" [ant: {irrational}]
       2: of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind;
          "intellectual problems"; "the triumph of the rational over
          the animal side of man" [syn: {intellectual}, {noetic}]
       3: capable of being expressed as a quotient of integers;
          "rational numbers" [ant: {irrational}]
       4: having its source in or being guided by the intellect
          (distinguished from experience or emotion); "a rational
          analysis"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  140 Moby Thesaurus words for "rational":
     acceptable, admissible, algorismic, algorithmic, aliquot,
     all there, analytic, balanced, bright, calm, cardinal, cerebral,
     circumspect, clear-eyed, clearheaded, clearminded, cogent,
     commonsense, compos mentis, conceptive, conceptual, consequent,
     cool, coolheaded, credible, decimal, differential, digital,
     discriminating, discursive, down-to-earth, earthy, endopsychic,
     enlightened, even, everyday, exponential, figural, figurate,
     figurative, finite, fractional, hardheaded, healthy-minded,
     ideational, imaginary, impair, impossible, infinite, informed,
     integral, intellectual, intelligent, internal, irrational,
     judicious, just, justifiable, knowing, knowledgeable, legitimate,
     level-headed, levelheaded, logarithmic, logical, logometric, lucid,
     matter-of-fact, mental, mentally sound, negative, noetic,
     noological, normal, not so dumb, numeral, numerary, numerative,
     numeric, odd, of sound mind, ordinal, pair, philosophical, phrenic,
     plausible, positive, positivistic, possible, practical,
     practical-minded, pragmatic, prime, prudent, psychic, psychologic,
     radical, ratiocinative, ratiocinatory, real, realist, realistic,
     reasonable, reasoning, reciprocal, right, sane, sane-minded,
     scientific, scientistic, secular, sensible, sober, sober-minded,
     sophic, sound, sound-minded, sound-thinking, spiritual, stable,
     straight-thinking, strong-minded, subjective, submultiple, surd,
     thinking, together, transcendental, understanding, unideal,
     unidealistic, unromantic, unsentimental, well-argued,
     well-balanced, well-founded, well-grounded, wholesome, wise,
     worldly
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  rational
       
          [Mathematics] a fractional number n/d, where n and d are
          integers, n is the numerator and d is the denominator.  The
          set of all rational numbers is usually called Q.
          Computers do not usually deal with rational numbers but
          instead convert them to {real} numbers which are represented
          (approximately in some cases) as {floating-point} numbers.
          Compare {irrational}.
       
       

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  RATIONAL, adj.  Devoid of all delusions save those of observation,
  experience and reflection.