Synonyms for rationalize
ˈræʃ ə nlˌaɪz, ˈræʃ nl-ra·tio·nal·ize

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. apologize, apologise, excuse, justify, rationalize, rationaliseverb

   defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning

   "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success"

   Synonyms:
   justify, condone, apologise, explain, relieve, prune, excuse, beg off, vindicate, warrant, cut, let off, apologize, free, rationalise, exempt, absolve, pardon

2. cut, prune, rationalize, rationaliseverb

   weed out unwanted or unnecessary things

   "We had to lose weight, so we cut the sugar from our diet"

   Synonyms:
   veer, bring down, justify, snub, turn off, edit out, cut, burn, hack, trim down, apologize, write out, prune, thin, slue, trim back, trim, ignore, swerve, shorten, apologise, cut off, edit, thin out, cut down, skip, abridge, reduce, rationalise, contract, foreshorten, dilute, curve, excuse, switch off, sheer, make out, geld, slew, tailor, turn out, clip, crop, disregard, issue, cut back, abbreviate, trend, snip, lop, dress

3. rationalize, rationaliseverb

   structure and run according to rational or scientific principles in order to achieve desired results

   "We rationalized the factory's production and raised profits"

   Synonyms:
   prune, excuse, apologise, cut, rationalise, apologize, justify

4. rationalize, rationaliseverb

   think rationally; employ logic or reason

   "When one wonders why one is doing certain things, one should rationalize"

   Synonyms:
   prune, excuse, apologise, cut, rationalise, apologize, justify

5. rationalize, rationaliseverb

   remove irrational quantities from

   "This function can be rationalized"

   Synonyms:
   prune, excuse, apologise, cut, rationalise, apologize, justify

Matched Categories

1. • Change
   • Cogitate
   • Eliminate
   • Math
   • Organize

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "rationalize":

   streamline, rationalise, rationalizing, rationalization, streamlining, rationalising, streamlined, rationalized, rationalisation

How to pronounce rationalize?

How to say rationalize in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. [["1515","2"],["1590","2"],["1737","1"],["1747","1"],["1762","1"],["1768","1"],["1777","2"],["1798","1"],["1800","1"],["1810","4"],["1812","1"],["1813","1"],["1817","2"],["1819","1"],["1820","2"],["1823","1"],["1826","1"],["1827","1"],["1828","1"],["1829","2"],["1830","1"],["1831","3"],["1832","3"],["1833","8"],["1834","4"],["1835","1"],["1836","6"],["1837","18"],["1838","5"],["1839","1"],["1840","13"],["1841","10"],["1842","14"],["1843","22"],["1844","7"],["1845","14"],["1846","19"],["1847","18"],["1848","32"],["1849","14"],["1850","23"],["1851","9"],["1852","16"],["1853","23"],["1854","19"],["1855","19"],["1856","12"],["1857","8"],["1858","8"],["1859","12"],["1860","24"],["1861","15"],["1862","14"],["1863","17"],["1864","21"],["1865","27"],["1866","11"],["1867","7"],["1868","9"],["1869","10"],["1870","9"],["1871","16"],["1872","15"],["1873","46"],["1874","30"],["1875","42"],["1876","43"],["1877","16"],["1878","19"],["1879","13"],["1880","90"],["1881","32"],["1882","35"],["1883","48"],["1884","59"],["1885","41"],["1886","37"],["1887","29"],["1888","60"],["1889","50"],["1890","36"],["1891","44"],["1892","58"],["1893","49"],["1894","71"],["1895","63"],["1896","73"],["1897","51"],["1898","76"],["1899","110"],["1900","169"],["1901","121"],["1902","145"],["1903","91"],["1904","80"],["1905","124"],["1906","173"],["1907","157"],["1908","150"],["1909","96"],["1910","213"],["1911","147"],["1912","146"],["1913","207"],["1914","228"],["1915","223"],["1916","178"],["1917","153"],["1918","326"],["1919","207"],["1920","324"],["1921","311"],["1922","440"],["1923","332"],["1924","458"],["1925","318"],["1926","414"],["1927","560"],["1928","465"],["1929","655"],["1930","680"],["1931","740"],["1932","618"],["1933","602"],["1934","809"],["1935","911"],["1936","986"],["1937","1026"],["1938","1069"],["1939","1096"],["1940","958"],["1941","1093"],["1942","928"],["1943","777"],["1944","821"],["1945","868"],["1946","1189"],["1947","1344"],["1948","1436"],["1949","1517"],["1950","1728"],["1951","1502"],["1952","1591"],["1953","1834"],["1954","1665"],["1955","1846"],["1956","1919"],["1957","2194"],["1958","2400"],["1959","2206"],["1960","2613"],["1961","2933"],["1962","3468"],["1963","3658"],["1964","3953"],["1965","4406"],["1966","4763"],["1967","5318"],["1968","5966"],["1969","5821"],["1970","6757"],["1971","7106"],["1972","6964"],["1973","7294"],["1974","6967"],["1975","6895"],["1976","6953"],["1977","7318"],["1978","7236"],["1979","7613"],["1980","7760"],["1981","7649"],["1982","8129"],["1983","8138"],["1984","8500"],["1985","8816"],["1986","9523"],["1987","9377"],["1988","10252"],["1989","10589"],["1990","11953"],["1991","11620"],["1992","12369"],["1993","12863"],["1994","13413"],["1995","13615"],["1996","14311"],["1997","13860"],["1998","14433"],["1999","14422"],["2000","16105"],["2001","16674"],["2002","18087"],["2003","19092"],["2004","19286"],["2005","19690"],["2006","20047"],["2007","20005"],["2008","18660"]]

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use rationalize in a sentence?

1. Chief Executive Tom Werner:

   I'd be surprised if it went any lower... I don't think there will be a significant uptick but I think it will rationalize and stabilize over few quarters.

2. Kim Gae-youn:

   If you're in the trenches, you want to have a machine gun, a grenade, a mine on hand, there are also different needs depending on individual markets, so regional sales staff naturally can't be happy when the company moves to rationalize and restructure from a global structure. The transition process is painful.

3. Anthony Leiserowitz:

   Never underestimate the power of the human mind to rationalize its way out of reality, people are way more complicated because they come preloaded with all these prior beliefs and attitudes and values and politics.

4. Billy Joel:

   As an atheist you have to rationalize things... Then you have to try and make some sort of sense out of your problems. And if you try and find you can't, you have no choice but to be good and scared -- but that's okay

5. John Richardson:

   The comprehensive review found that over a sustained period of time, rising pressure to meet operational demands led those in command to rationalize declining standards.