rationalizing

verb

present participle of rationalize
as in explaining
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rationalizing But the notion of ends rationalizing the means is problematic on many levels, most of all because without boundaries and structure there is chaos, and few have the same means and leverage at their disposal. — Vahe Gregorian july 7, Kansas City Star, 7 July 2026 As the show began to wrap up, Goldberg aimed to try to tie in the book, asking Vance about rationalizing his Catholic faith with a hard-line stance on immigration. — Meg Kinnard, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2026 Instead of obsessively over-rationalizing or avoiding, try making friends with that feeling. — Goth Shakira contributing, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026 Reenvisioning platforms is about rationalizing the toolset to optimize investments and realize measurable business value. — Ashwin Gaidhani, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2026 While rationalizing deception is easy to do, developing the virtue of truthfulness is not. — Katherine Moses, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2026 If there were a Mensa society for rationalizing one’s own shitty behavior, Pippa would be its president. — Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2026 Aeffe is rationalizing its retail network and earlier this month the board approved the early termination of the rental contract signed with two real estate firms, Colloportus and FQuattro, respectively controlled by designer Alberta Ferretti and her brother, executive chairman Massimo Ferretti. — Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 11 Nov. 2025 This time, rationalizing the medical results was impossible. — Megan Feringa, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rationalizing
  1. explaining
  2. justifying
Verb
  • At its investor day in June, Honeywell Aerospace spent time explaining their strategy to transform their supply chain, including better planning, factory throughput and the embrace of AI tools.
    — Zev Fima,Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Meanwhile, the city will work on outreach to get vacant properties registered while putting together a guide explaining what the standards are for owners.
    — Chris Higgins, Kansas City Star, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of explaining
Verb
  • Like with Meta, Microsoft on Wednesday evening needs to do a better job explaining its AI strategy and justifying the massive levels of capex spend.
    — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 26 July 2026
  • Organizations that approach agentic AI this way build foundational capabilities that span dozens of workflows and shift the ROI conversation from justifying each agent individually to achieving compounding returns across the enterprise.
    — Joe Locandro, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Definition of justifying

Browse Nearby Words

rationalizes
rationalizing
rationalness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rationalizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rationalizing. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on rationalizing

Nglish: Translation of rationalizing for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct?

Why does English have so many silent letters?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Dutch Treat and French Leave: Eight Place-Based Compounds

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

How long is a jiffy?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Dutch Treat and French Leave: Eight Place-Based Compounds

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
asap street sign
Figure Out These Acronyms ASAP You don't have to be a NASA engineer to get these...
See All