Meanings
alternative rhyme nor reason
- idiomaticuncountableLogic; common sense.
He would often fly into an unexpected rage without rhyme or reason.
3 more examples
Prices vary considerably from one town to another with no apparent rhyme or reason.
I could see no rhyme or reason for the referee's decision. It was baffling!
While many of your essays were interesting, some seemed little more than self-promotion on the part of authors. I wished there had been a central essay to anchor the others or some kind of discernable rhyme or reason to their placement. As it was, I could not help but feel that it was a mish-mash of unrelated and poorly edited information.
1992 February 2, Ed Zirnheld, “Disappointed”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 28, page 4
Origin
- Middle Frenchn'y avoir ryme ne raison
- Englishrhyme or reason
Calque of Middle French n'y avoir ryme ne raison (Eustache Deschamps), attributed to the poet Edmund Spenser in a conversation with Queen Elizabeth I.
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian никаква мисъл, никаква логика
- никаква мисъл (nikakva misăl)logic or common sense
- никаква логика (nikakva logika)logic or common sense
Finnish tolkku, syyttä suotta
- tolkkulogic or common sense
- syyttä suottalogic or common sense
French n'avoir ni queue ni tête, ne rimer à rien
- n'avoir ni queue ni têtelogic or common sense
- ne rimer à rienlogic or common sense
German Sinn und Verstand
- Sinn und Verstandlogic or common sense
Italian né capo né coda, senza capo né coda
- né capo né codalogic or common sense
- senza capo né codalogic or common sense
Polish but see bez ładu i składu
- but see bez ładu i składulogic or common sense
Portuguese sem pé nem cabeça
- sem pé nem cabeçalogic or common sense
Russian ни скла́ду, ни ла́ду
- ни скла́ду, ни ла́ду (ni skládu, ni ládu)logic or common sense
Scottish Gaelic gun ì, gun ò, gun adhbhar
- gun ì, gun ò, gun adhbharlogic or common sense
Spanish sin ton ni son, sin ton y sin son
- sin ton ni sonlogic or common sense
- sin ton y sin sonlogic or common sense
- sin pies ni cabezalogic or common sense
- no tener / llevar pies ni cabezalogic or common sense
- razón algunalogic or common sense
Swedish rim och reson
- rim och resonlogic or common sense
Cite this entry
rhyme or reason. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rhyme%20or%20reason
“rhyme or reason.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rhyme%20or%20reason. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rhyme or reason,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rhyme%20or%20reason.
Source: rhyme or reason on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.