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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His deep dive into the genre left him with some pet peeves, not least the irrational or simply implausible behavior of many horror-movie protagonists.—
Alex Barasch,
New Yorker,
11 May 2026
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Evans and his backers were rational actors inside an irrational system.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
1 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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Another avenue for the administration is to invoke a section of the Trade Act of 1974 that allows tariffs against countries for unreasonable or discriminatory trade practices.—
Judith Kohler,
Denver Post,
7 May 2026
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And to be fair to Rivers, many people wondered aloud if Green was being unreasonable, incorrect, delusional or all of the above.—
Zach Harper,
New York Times,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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The nuns then took it upon themselves to make arrangements for the illegitimate child.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
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The credit bureaus have said that many recent complaints are illegitimate, including a large volume filed by third-party credit repair organizations that charge customers to challenge negative information on their reports.—
Joel Jacobs,
ProPublica,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nonrational.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonrational. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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