Adjacent Words

Reasonable definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RE'ASONABLE, a.
1. Having the faculty of reason; endued with reason; as a reasonable being. [In this sense, rational is now generally used.]
2. Governed by reason; being under the influence of reason; thinking, speaking or acting rationally or according to the dictates of reason; as, the measure must satisfy all reasonable men.
3. Conformable or agreeable to reason; just; rational.
By indubitable certainty, I mean that which does not admit of any reasonable cause of doubting.
A law may be reasonable in itself, though a man does not allow it.
4. Not immoderate.
Let all things be thought upon, that may with reasonable swiftness add more feathers to our wings.
5. Tolerable; being in mediocrity; moderate; as a reasonable quantity.
6. Not excessive; not unjust; as a reasonable fine; a reasonable sum in damages.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: showing reason or sound judgment; "a sensible choice"; "a sensible person" [syn: reasonable, sensible] [ant: unreasonable]
2: not excessive or extreme; "a fairish income"; "reasonable prices" [syn: fair, fairish, reasonable]
3: marked by sound judgment; "sane nuclear policy" [syn: reasonable, sane]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. a. being in accordance with reason <a reasonable theory> b. not extreme or excessive <reasonable requests> c. moderate, fair <a reasonable chance> <a reasonable price> d. inexpensive 2. a. having the faculty of reason b. possessing sound judgment <a reasonable man> • reasonability noun • reasonableness noun • reasonably adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 having sound judgement; moderate; ready to listen to reason. 2 in accordance with reason; not absurd. 3 a within the limits of reason; not greatly less or more than might be expected. b inexpensive; not extortionate. c tolerable, fair. 4 archaic endowed with the faculty of reason. Derivatives: reasonableness n. reasonably adv. Etymology: ME f. OF raisonable (as REASON) after L rationabilis

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reasonable Rea"son*a*ble, a. [OE. resonable, F. raisonnable, fr. L. rationabilis. See Reason, n.] 1. Having the faculty of reason; endued with reason; rational; as, a reasonable being. 2. Governed by reason; being under influence of reason; thinking, speaking or acting rationally, or according to the dictates of reason; agreeable to reason; just; rational; as, the measure must satisfy all reasonable men. By indubitable certainty, I mean that which doth not admit of any reasonable cause of doubting. --Bp. Wilkins. Men have no right to what is not reasonable. --Burke. 3. Not excessive or immoderate; within due limits; proper; as, a reasonable demand, amount, price. Let . . . all things be thought upon That may, with reasonable swiftness, add More feathers to you wings. --Shak. Syn: Rational; just; honest; equitable; fair; suitable; moderate; tolerable. See Rational.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reasonable Rea"son*a*ble, adv. Reasonable; tolerably. [Obs.] I have a reasonable good ear in music. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you think that someone is fair and sensible you can say that they are reasonable. He's a reasonable sort of chap... Oh, come on, be reasonable. ? unreasonable ADJ • reasonably 'I'm sorry, Andrew,' she said reasonably. ADV • reasonableness 'I can understand how you feel,' Desmond said with great reasonableness. N-UNCOUNT 2. If you say that a decision or action is reasonable, you mean that it is fair and sensible. ...a perfectly reasonable decision... At the time, what he'd done had seemed reasonable. ADJ 3. If you say that an expectation or explanation is reasonable, you mean that there are good reasons why it may be correct. It seems reasonable to expect rapid urban growth. ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ to-inf • reasonably You can reasonably expect your goods to arrive within six to eight weeks. ADV: ADV with v 4. If you say that the price of something is reasonable, you mean that it is fair and not too high. You get an interesting meal for a reasonable price... ADJ • reasonably ...reasonably priced accommodation. ADV: ADV with v 5. You can use reasonable to describe something that is fairly good, but not very good. The boy answered him in reasonable French... ADJ • reasonably I can dance reasonably well. ADV: ADV adj/adv 6. A reasonable amount of something is a fairly large amount of it. They will need a reasonable amount of desk area and good light. ADJ • reasonably From now on events moved reasonably quickly. ADV: ADV adj/adv

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Right, equitable, fair, suitable, just, rational, honest, fit, proper, according to reason, agreeable to reason. 2. Judicious, sensible, wise, sagacious, enlightened, intelligent. 3. Tolerable, moderate, considerable. 4. Rational, intellectual, endowed with reason. 5. Sane, sound, sober, rational.

Moby Thesaurus

acceptable, admissible, all there, allowable, apparent, appropriate, arguable, balanced, believable, bright, budget, cheap, clearheaded, clearminded, cogent, commonsense, compos mentis, conceivable, conceptive, conceptual, condonable, consequent, conservative, controlled, cool, coolheaded, credible, defensible, discreet, discursive, dispensable, down-to-earth, earthy, easy, economic, economical, economy, equitable, excusable, exemptible, expiable, fair, forgivable, frugal, hardheaded, healthy-minded, ideational, inexpensive, inoffensive, intellectual, intelligent, judicious, just, justifiable, knowing, legitimate, levelheaded, logical, low, low-priced, lucid, manageable, matter-of-fact, mentally sound, moderate, modest, noetic, nominal, normal, not so dumb, of sound mind, pardonable, philosophical, plausible, popular, positivistic, practical, practical-minded, pragmatic, proper, rational, realist, realistic, reasoned, remissible, restrained, right, sane, sane-minded, scientific, scientistic, secular, sensible, shabby, shoddy, sober, sober-minded, sophic, sound, sound-minded, sound-thinking, straight-thinking, strong-minded, suitable, temperate, tenable, thinking, together, token, tolerable, understanding, unexcessive, unexpensive, unextravagant, unextreme, unideal, unidealistic, unobjectionable, unromantic, unsentimental, venial, vindicable, warrantable, well-argued, well-balanced, well-founded, well-grounded, well-thought-out, wholesome, wise, within means, within reason, worldly, worth the money