rationalization

plural rationalizations · alternative rationalisation

1. archaiccountableuncountableThe process or result of rationalizing, or expressing in rational terms.

   Some rationalization of the language of his lectures is, of course, necessary.

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   […] a distrust of cut-and-dried formulas and a conviction that Marxism is not a 'final', self-sufficient rationalization and schematization of history, but rather a collection of pointers to the understanding of human affairs […]

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 183

2. countableuncountableA statement of one's motives, or of the causes of some event.

   Her self-flagellating rationalization for the theft was mostly ignored by the jury.

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   But, he insisted, he was neither a “Union Saver” nor a “freedom shrieker.” He rejected all high-flown rationalizations for the war effort — “to hell with the devilish twaddle about freedom.”

   2014 October 17, Daniel W. Crofts, “What Union Soldiers Thought About the Civil War”, in The New York Times

   After every shooting, blame and rationalizations fly. I know, because I was shot in the head at a 2011 congressional event near my home in Tucson, Ariz. Eighteen other people were shot at that event, six of whom died.

   2024 September 16, Gabrielle Giffords, “Gabby Giffords: It’s the Guns. It’s Always the Guns.”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: rationale, reasoning

3. countableuncountableeconomicsThe reorganization of a company or organization in order to improve its efficiency through the reallocation of resources and changes in its workforce.

   It began with the familiar political motives of civil service rationalization and downsizing.

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   For socialism involves the reconstruction of industry upon the principle of production for use. It involves the rationalization of industry, the proper adjustment of production to the social requirements.

   1915 May 28, John Spargo, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, volume 59, page 160

   The former, technical rationalisation, is a question of improvements carried out within businesses by the managers, methods like scientific management, the rapidity with which machinery is scrapped, the supervision of labour, by the stop-watch method or any other method, and generally what we economists have been in the habit of calling "internal economies."

   1930 September 28, Ian MacGregor, “Problems of Rationalisation”, in The Economic Journal, volume 40, number 159, page 351

   Rationalization includes partnership ventures, and if approved would mean capacity reductions in both sectors with thousands of steelworkers' jobs affected.

   1980 December 10, “Steel industry changes sought”, in The Times, number 60798, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1

   He firmly believed that the only cure for unemployment was the revival of industry as a whole, and that private finance was the best spur and guide to rationalization. But the State would help.

   2005 April 16, “On This Day: April 16, 1929”, in The Times, number 68363, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 81

   Synonyms: consolidation

4. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe concealment of true motivation in some non-threatening way.
5. countableuncountablemathematicsThe simplification of an expression without changing its value.

   Here, the rationalization of the denominator was unnecessary.