rationalization

noun

ra·​tio·​nal·​i·​za·​tion ˌrash-nə-lə-ˈzā-shən 

ˌra-shə-nə-lə-

plural rationalizations

: the act, process, or result of rationalizing : a way of describing, interpreting, or explaining something (such as bad behavior) that makes it seem proper, more attractive, etc.

They're masters of high-speed sophistry and self-serving rationalizations, and they threaten one another as if the power of threats lies mainly in how elegantly expressed they are …

—Nitsuh Abebe

But that's a convenient rationalization that removes from the rest of us the onus for doing the right thing even when the wrong thing is alluring and nobody would blame you for it.

—Leonard Pitts, Jr.

People rationalize what they shun or are incapable of dealing with; these superstitions and their rationalizations become ritual as they govern behavior.

—Ralph Ellison

Importantly, these perceptions of victimhood were automatic and effortless, not belabored rationalizations.

—Kurt Gray and Chelsea Schein

Examples of rationalization in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This is absurd for a couple reasons, chief among them that there’s no real rationalization for trying to overturn an election, among the highest of crimes in a democracy. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 29 Mar. 2024

Killers of the Flower Moon seeks to uncover the putrid rationalizations white people used to enact covert cruelties upon the Indigenous Osage population, whose reservation land held oil and therefore incredible wealth. —Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2024

But as Lynn shows, one of the main differences between then and now is that, compared to today, fewer Americans accepted such rationalizations during the Gilded Age. —Zephyr Teachout, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2020

From the comprehensive process, people, and technology assessments to strategy development, rationalization, and consolidation, Triumphus leaves no stone unturned in its quest for sustainable transformation. —Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 10 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1846, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

rationalization

noun

ra·​tio·​nal·​iza·​tion

variants also British rationalisation

ˌrash-nə-lə-ˈzā-shən, -ən-ᵊl-ə- 

: the act, process, or result of rationalizing

especially : the provision of plausible reasons to explain to oneself or others behavior for which one's real motives are different and unknown or unconscious