as in irrational
not using or following good reasoning
was so upset that he was completely nonrational for a moment
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Recent Examples of nonrational
Mid-century collective behavior theories considered social movements to be nonrational, spontaneous events occurring during moments of social and cultural breakdown.
—
The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 10 Sep. 2025
The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonrational
Adjective
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Carpenter says the disturbing encounters left her fearful for her safety and that of relatives living with her, as police label the suspect’s fixation irrational and increasingly dangerous.—
Emily St. Martin,
Los Angeles Times,
2 June 2026
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Great startups often look irrational at first.—
Anna Demeo,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2026
Adjective
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Bainbridge knew about secrets and unreasoning shame.—
Christopher Tayler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done.—
Frederick Douglass,
The Atlantic,
16 Aug. 2017
Adjective
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Last year’s conference-final loss to the Florida Panthers — an ugly result for an overmatched roster that had spent the regular season outkicking its coverage, maximizing its performance and raising expectations to an unreasonable level — is on that ledger, too.—
Sean Gentille,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
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That lingering inventory, which has drawn criticism from fans who believe the list prices are unreasonable, is a principal feature of the governing body’s ticket pricing strategy.—
Sara Germano,
Sportico.com,
28 May 2026
Adjective
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After testing against other economic variables that may have contributed to higher costs, and comparing housing activity in high-fraud ZIP codes to low-fraud ones in the same county, the researchers found illegitimate PPP loans to be one of the core drivers of housing prices.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
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That does not automatically mean every lawsuit involving a president and an executive agency is illegitimate.—
Andrew Leahey,
Forbes.com,
29 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nonrational.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonrational. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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