How to Use rationalize in a Sentence

rationalize

verb
Definition of rationalizenext
Synonyms for rationalizenext
  • She knows she shouldn't have done it—she's just trying to rationalize.
  • She tried to rationalize her grandson's strange behavior by blaming it on the boy's father.
  • Management is thinking of ways to rationalize our system of production.
  • There is no way to rationalize the six consecutive losses to the league's two worst teams.
    — Bill Plaschke, latimes.com, 18 May 2018
  • Amanda seems to accept this, saying that her Jason would’ve tried to rationalize it.
    — Chris Klimek, Vulture, 22 May 2024
  • Similar efforts to rationalize online sales tax law have fizzled out.
    — Hiawatha Bray, BostonGlobe.com, 25 June 2018
  • Unable to cope with losing to a team many had never even played against before, its opponents were reduced to whingeing and rationalizing.
    — Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 14 June 2018
  • And gun violence is inarguably tragic; that a young man was cut down in the prime of his life is impossible to rationalize, no matter his stature or past misdeeds.
    — Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 19 June 2018
  • It can be rationalized as an overdue reset of an American experiment that was morally tainted.
    — WSJ, 3 June 2018
  • Despite what the evidence may or may not present in the Zervos lawsuit, those moments can and probably will be rationalized by some Trump supporters.
    — Amber Phillips, Washington Post, 14 June 2018
  • As centuries of forlorn singletons have learned and generations of songwriters have mastered, one of the best cures for heartbreak is the balm of music that speaks to our souls — or maybe helps us rationalize away the tears.
    — Raisa Bruner, Time, 30 May 2018
  • So don't judge your grief, or try to rationalize your way around it.
    — Andrea Park, Allure, 10 Sep. 2018
  • Tino tried to rationalize, but Rachel pushed back on him.
    — Haley Kluge, Variety, 20 Sep. 2022
  • Get the cold, hard facts, and don’t discount or rationalize them.
    — Alissa Jubelirer, Rolling Stone, 21 Mar. 2023
  • But if the ask was something that couldn’t be rationalized away, the direct approach was best.
    — Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Many people at airports this week thought long and hard about whether to go somewhere and found a way to rationalize it.
    — Tamara Lush, USA TODAY, 24 Dec. 2020
  • People like him rationalize their hypocrisies all the time.
    — Nina Metz, chicagotribune.com, 26 July 2021
  • In other words, don't try and rationalize moves like this.
    — Jj Kinahan, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024
  • The Olympics, which claim to be a movement promoting peace and unity, are used to rationalize the buying and selling of arms.
    — Dvora Meyers, Longreads, 7 Aug. 2020
  • The currency mix-up can sort of be rationalized by the fact that Malaysia and the Philippines have banknotes in similar shades of blue.
    — Christopher Bagley, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2018
  • Less obvious are those who repeat the cliché in order to rationalize their own choice not to spend on wine.
    — New York Times, 29 Apr. 2021
  • Meanwhile, my frontal lobe—the part that takes care of reasoning—is trying to rationalize these thoughts and reduce the fear.
    — Sean Abrams, Men's Health, 22 June 2023
  • That allowed the patron saint of the modern GOP (and his successors) to rationalize massive tax cuts for the rich.
    — Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Mar. 2021
  • That last bit of rationalizing ignores the obvious: This is not a court of law.
    — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 7 Aug. 2019
  • Banks need to rationalize use cases aligned to their strategies across both short-term and long-term horizons.
    — Sudhir Pai, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2022
  • Even with the Foligno and Hall injuries, Sweeney could have stuck with the status quo and rationalized his reasons for doing so.
    — Chad Finn, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2023
  • One thing Levin doesn’t try to rationalize is what a wild ride the rolling paper industry has given him.
    — Will Yakowicz, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Hamlin later tried to rationalize his reasons for the message and has since deleted the tweet.
    — Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2022
  • How exactly is the district rationalizing a $30.2 million increase in one project in such a short amount of time?
    — Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 14 Dec. 2019
  • His functionalist ideas and his desire to rationalize and organize urban space were key elements in his contribution, which went on to transform urban organization around the world.
    — Carlos Moreno, Fortune, 7 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rationalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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