"reason" meaning in English

See reason in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈriːzn/ Audio: en-us-reason.ogg [US] Forms: reason [singular], reasons [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A reason to do something is why you do it, or the cause of something.
    Sense id: simple-reason-en-noun-h-cKf1gQ
  2. Reason is the ability to think clearly.
    Sense id: simple-reason-en-noun-yZSiXIyd

Verb

IPA: /ˈriːzn/ Audio: en-us-reason.ogg [US] Forms: reason [canonical], reasons [third-person, singular], reasoned [past], reasoned [past, participle], reasoning [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you reason, you think carefully about something.
    Sense id: simple-reason-en-verb-hs~XKokV
  2. (uncommon) If you reason someone, you persuade using reasoning.
    Sense id: simple-reason-en-verb-J1WKB~wZ
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "reason",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasons",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "rea‧son",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The low price was the main reason for buying it."
        },
        {
          "text": "I asked them about the reason why we should go."
        },
        {
          "text": "The police are looking for the reason for the accident."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A reason to do something is why you do it, or the cause of something."
      ],
      "id": "simple-reason-en-noun-h-cKf1gQ",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable & uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's important to use reason to decide, not emotion."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Reason is the ability to think clearly."
      ],
      "id": "simple-reason-en-noun-yZSiXIyd",
      "raw_tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈriːzn/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"ri:zn/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-reason.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "reason"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "reason",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasons",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasoned",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasoned",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasoning",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "rea‧son",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If you reason, you think carefully about something."
      ],
      "id": "simple-reason-en-verb-hs~XKokV"
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I reasoned my friend into my religion."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "(uncommon) If you reason someone, you persuade using reasoning."
      ],
      "id": "simple-reason-en-verb-J1WKB~wZ",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈriːzn/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"ri:zn/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-reason.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "reason"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "reason",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasons",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "rea‧son",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns",
        "Uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The low price was the main reason for buying it."
        },
        {
          "text": "I asked them about the reason why we should go."
        },
        {
          "text": "The police are looking for the reason for the accident."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A reason to do something is why you do it, or the cause of something."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable & uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's important to use reason to decide, not emotion."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Reason is the ability to think clearly."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈriːzn/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"ri:zn/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-reason.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "reason"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "reason",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasons",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasoned",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasoned",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "reasoning",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "rea‧son",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If you reason, you think carefully about something."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I reasoned my friend into my religion."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "(uncommon) If you reason someone, you persuade using reasoning."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈriːzn/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"ri:zn/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-reason.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "reason"
}

Download raw JSONL data for reason meaning in English (1.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.