[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

rationalization \ra`tionaliza"tion\
   ra^sh`u^nali^z=a"shu^n, n.
   the act or process of rationalizing.
   1913 webster

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

rationalization
     n 1: the cognitive process of making something seem consistent
          with or based on reason syn: rationalisation
     2: psychiatry a defense mechanism by which your true
        motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and
        feelings in a way that is not threatening syn: rationalisation
     3: mathematics the simplification of an expression or
        equation by eliminating radicals without changing the
        value of the expression or the roots of the equation syn:
         rationalisation
     4: the organization of a business according to scientific
        principles of management in order to increase efficiency
        syn: rationalisation
     5: systematic organization; the act of organizing something
        according to a system or a rationale syn: systematization,
         systematisation, rationalisation
see also:
rationalisation systematization systematisation 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

165 moby thesaurus words for "rationalization":
   account, adjustment, alienation, apparent soundness, approach,
   arrangement, attack, autism, autistic thinking,
   avoidance mechanism, blame-shifting, blueprint, blueprinting,
   calculation, casuistry, charting, circularity, clearance, clearing,
   codification, compensation, conception, contrivance, coordination,
   decompensation, deduction, deductive reasoning, defense mechanism,
   demonstration, dereism, dereistic thinking, design,
   destigmatization, destigmatizing, device, discourse,
   discourse of reason, discursive reason, disingenuousness,
   displacement, disposition, dissociation, distortion,
   emotional insulation, enterprise, envisagement, equivocalness,
   equivocation, escape, escape into fantasy, escape mechanism,
   escapism, evasive reasoning, exculpation, explanation,
   fallaciousness, fallacy, fantasizing, fantasy, figuring, flight,
   foresight, forethought, game, graphing, ground plan, guidelines,
   harmonization, idea, induction, inductive reasoning, insincerity,
   intention, isolation, jesuitism, jesuitry, justification, layout,
   lineup, logical thought, long-range plan, mapping, master plan,
   method, methodization, methodology, misapplication, mystification,
   negativism, normalization, obfuscation, obscurantism,
   operations research, ordination, organization, overcompensation,
   oversubtlety, perversion, philosophism, philosophy, plan, planning,
   planning function, plausibility, plausibleness, prearrangement,
   procedure, program, program of action, projection, proof,
   psychotaxis, purgation, purging, ratiocination, rationale,
   rationalism, rationality, rationalizing, reason, reasonableness,
   reasoning, regularization, regulation, rehabilitation,
   reinstatement, resistance, restoration, routinization, schedule,
   schema, schematism, schematization, scheme, scheme of arrangement,
   setup, sociological adjustive reactions, sophism,
   sophistical reasoning, sophistication, sophistry, special pleading,
   speciosity, specious reasoning, speciousness, strategic plan,
   strategy, sublimation, substitution, subtlety, sweet reason,
   system, systematization, tactical plan, tactics, the big picture,
   the picture, vicious circle, vicious reasoning, vindication, way,
   wish-fulfillment fantasy, wishful thinking, withdrawal,
   working plan

Rationalization >> R Words
Rationalization, definition of term: Rationalization
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