Rationalise (Verb)
Meaning 1
Think rationally; employ logic or reason; "When one wonders why one is doing certain things, one should rationalize".
Classification
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting.
Examples
- The government tried to rationalise the rise in taxes by citing the increasing healthcare costs and failing infrastructure.
- She spent hours trying to rationalise her decision to drop out of college, but couldn't shake off the feeling that she was making a huge mistake.
- The company's CEO found it hard to rationalise the enormous losses incurred by the failed project.
- He took a moment to rationalise his actions before confronting his colleague about the conflict.
- After breaking up with her boyfriend, she struggled to rationalise why she had stayed in the toxic relationship for so long.
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Meaning 2
Structure and run according to rational or scientific principles in order to achieve desired results; "We rationalized the factory's production and raised profits".
Classification
Verbs of buying, selling, owning.
Examples
- The company's new management team successfully rationalised the organisation's operations and significantly improved its overall efficiency.
- By rationalising the manufacturing process, the business was able to reduce waste and increase productivity.
- Their efforts to rationalise the distribution network resulted in substantial cost savings for the firm.
- The research team was able to rationalise the experiment and make meaningful conclusions from the data.
- The business consultant worked closely with the owner to rationalise the company's resources and ultimately boost revenue.
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Meaning 3
Defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success".
Classification
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing.
Examples
- The politician's team worked hard to rationalise the scandal by downplaying its significance and shifting the blame elsewhere.
- She struggled to rationalise her decision to drop out of college and pursue a career in the arts.
- He rationalised his late arrival at the party by blaming the traffic and the long queues at the bar.
- The teacher tried to rationalise the student's poor grades by suggesting that they were suffering from personal issues at home.
- He rationalised his excessive spending habits by telling himself that he deserved to treat himself after working so hard for many years.
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Meaning 4
Remove irrational quantities from; "This function can be rationalized".
Classification
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc..
Examples
- The square root of 2 in the denominator needed to be rationalized to simplify the expression further.
- To rationalize the denominator of a fraction with a radical in it, multiply the numerator and denominator by the conjugate of the denominator.
- We can rationalize the square root in the exponent by expressing it as a fractional exponent and then using properties of exponents.
- By multiplying the numerator and denominator of the fraction by the square root of the number in the denominator, we can fully rationalize it.
- This formula also can be used to completely rationalize denominators with multiple square roots.
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Meaning 5
Weed out unwanted or unnecessary things; "We had to lose weight, so we cut the sugar from our diet".
Classification
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc..
Examples
- She decided to rationalise her wardrobe by giving away the clothes she hadn't worn in years.
- The company had to rationalise its operations to stay afloat, starting by letting go of redundant staff.
- To make her small apartment more manageable, she began to rationalise her belongings, keeping only what brought her joy.
- After falling ill, he took steps to rationalise his diet by eliminating processed foods and focusing on whole grains.
- The family struggled to rationalise their budget after their income reduced, cutting back on non-essential expenses wherever possible.