as in to explain
to give the reason for or cause of
rationalized his decision to buy the new car by noting that it was more fuel efficient than his old vehicle
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Recent Examples of rationalize
Find another scapegoat to rationalize your assault on the crown jewels of American progress — our colleges and universities that until now have attracted the best and the brightest from our country and all over the world.
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Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 3 Apr. 2025
Clearly the request — which must have originated in City Hall — uses the fires as a smokescreen to rationalize a bailout for a deficit that is fundamentally the result of years-long fiscal malpractice.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2025
Under the Trump administration, the American corporate leadership paradigm has shifted from setting and achieving progressively higher targets to rationalizing or reducing them altogether.
—Paul Klein, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025
This, too, is abetted by supporters — critics would deride them as useful idiots — who downplay or else rationalize questionable decision-making as five-dimensional chess.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rationalize
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 3 Apr. 2025
Clearly the request — which must have originated in City Hall — uses the fires as a smokescreen to rationalize a bailout for a deficit that is fundamentally the result of years-long fiscal malpractice.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2025
Under the Trump administration, the American corporate leadership paradigm has shifted from setting and achieving progressively higher targets to rationalizing or reducing them altogether.
—Paul Klein, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025
This, too, is abetted by supporters — critics would deride them as useful idiots — who downplay or else rationalize questionable decision-making as five-dimensional chess.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rationalize
Cite this Entry
“Rationalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rationalize. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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