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rationalization

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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First attested in 1831. From French rationalisation, equivalent to rational +‎ -ization or rationalize +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌræʃ(ə)n(ə)laɪˈzeɪʃn̩/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌræʃənəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/

Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

rationalization (countable and uncountable, plural rationalizations) (American and Oxford British spelling)

  1. (now rare) The process or result of rationalizing, or expressing in rational terms.
    Coordinate term: casuistry
    Some rationalization of the language of his lectures is, of course, necessary.
  2. A statement of one's motives, or of the causes of some event.
    Synonyms: rationale, reasoning
    Her self-flagellating rationalization for the theft was mostly ignored by the jury.
    • 2014 October 17, Daniel W. Crofts, “What Union Soldiers Thought About the Civil War”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      But, he insisted, he was neither a “Union Saver” nor a “freedom shrieker.” He rejected all high-flown rationalizations for the war effort — “to hell with the devilish twaddle about freedom.”
    • 2024 September 16, Gabrielle Giffords, “Gabby Giffords: It’s the Guns. It’s Always the Guns.”, in The New York Times‎[2]:
      After every shooting, blame and rationalizations fly. I know, because I was shot in the head at a 2011 congressional event near my home in Tucson, Ariz. Eighteen other people were shot at that event, six of whom died.
  3. (economics) The reorganization of a company or organization in order to improve its efficiency through the reallocation of resources and changes in its workforce.
    Synonym: consolidation
    It began with the familiar political motives of civil service rationalization and downsizing.
    • 1915 May, John Spargo, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science‎[3], volume 59, page 160:
      For socialism involves the reconstruction of industry upon the principle of production for use. It involves the rationalization of industry, the proper adjustment of production to the social requirements.
    • 1930 September, Ian MacGregor, “Problems of Rationalisation”, in The Economic Journal‎[4], volume 40, number 159, page 351:
      The former, technical rationalisation, is a question of improvements carried out within businesses by the managers, methods like scientific management, the rapidity with which machinery is scrapped, the supervision of labour, by the stop-watch method or any other method, and generally what we economists have been in the habit of calling "internal economies."
    • 1980 December 10, “Steel industry changes sought”, in The Times, number 60798, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
      Rationalization includes partnership ventures, and if approved would mean capacity reductions in both sectors with thousands of steelworkers' jobs affected.
    • 2005 April 16, “On This Day: April 16, 1929”, in The Times, number 68363, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 81:
      He firmly believed that the only cure for unemployment was the revival of industry as a whole, and that private finance was the best spur and guide to rationalization. But the State would help.
  4. (psychiatry) The concealment of true motivation in some non-threatening way.
  5. (mathematics) The simplification of an expression without changing its value.
    Here, the rationalization of the denominator was unnecessary.

Derived terms

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Translations

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