RATIONALISATION
Dictionary entry overview: What does rationalisation mean?
• RATIONALISATION (noun)
The noun RATIONALISATION has 5 senses:
1. (psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening
2. the cognitive process of making something seem consistent with or based on reason
3. (mathematics) the simplification of an expression or equation by eliminating radicals without changing the value of the expression or the roots of the equation
4. the organization of a business according to scientific principles of management in order to increase efficiency
5. systematic organization; the act of organizing something according to a system or a rationale
Familiarity information: RATIONALISATION used as a noun is common.
Dictionary entry details
• RATIONALISATION (noun)
Meaning:
(psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Synonyms:
rationalisation; rationalization
Hypernyms ("rationalisation" is a kind of...):
defence; defence mechanism; defence reaction; defense; defense mechanism; defense reaction ((psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires)
Domain category:
psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)
Meaning:
The cognitive process of making something seem consistent with or based on reason
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Synonyms:
rationalization; rationalisation
Hypernyms ("rationalisation" is a kind of...):
explanation (thought that makes something comprehensible)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rationalisation"):
raison d'etre (reason for being)
Meaning:
(mathematics) the simplification of an expression or equation by eliminating radicals without changing the value of the expression or the roots of the equation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
rationalization; rationalisation
Hypernyms ("rationalisation" is a kind of...):
simplification (elimination of superfluous details)
Domain category:
math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)
Meaning:
The organization of a business according to scientific principles of management in order to increase efficiency
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
rationalisation; rationalization
Hypernyms ("rationalisation" is a kind of...):
organisation; organization (the act of organizing a business or an activity related to a business)
Meaning:
Systematic organization; the act of organizing something according to a system or a rationale
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
systematisation; systematization; rationalisation; rationalization
Hypernyms ("rationalisation" is a kind of...):
organisation; organization (the activity or result of distributing or disposing persons or things properly or methodically)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rationalisation"):
codification (the act of codifying; arranging is a systematic order)
formalisation; formalization (the act of making formal (as by stating formal rules governing classes of expressions))
