as in reasoning
the thought processes that have been established as leading to valid solutions to problems
as an expert in ratiocination, the detective Sherlock Holmes has few rivals
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Recent Examples of ratiocination
The underground man is someone who is cursed with ratiocination.
—
Sean Illing, Vox, 9 Dec. 2024
No ratiocination similar to Parker’s point system.
—WIRED, 23 Feb. 2023
Once again, using the obtuse ratiocination of her characters, DeWitt aims at nothing less than expanding readerly consciousness, gesturing toward a world of untapped possibility freed from convention.
—Charles Arrowsmith, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2022
At the same time that professional men of science were forming the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Poe was lambasting professionals in favor of splendid amateurism and personal ratiocination.
—Colin Dickey, The New Republic, 21 July 2021
The surface of the table was taken up with all sorts of paraphernalia superfluous, not to say impedimental, to ratiocination.
—Hermione Hoby, New York Times, 1 June 2018
Outside of pure math our powers of ratiocination are overwhelmed by subjective decisions along the chain of propositions.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 25 Apr. 2013
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ratiocination
Noun
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Her reasoning is frustrating, but understandable — her husband (Yao), now a vampire, is taunting her outside, and Remmick has threatened to kill her daughter back in town.—
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The court did not explain its reasoning in the brief order, as is typical on its emergency docket.—
Noun
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Peter offers her not only logic — a picture in which all the parts, however gruesome, fit together — but salvation.—
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That logic applies to the Middle East.—
Cite this Entry
“Ratiocination.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ratiocination. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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