Irrational
[ɪ'ræʃ(ə)n(ə)l] or [ɪ'ræʃənl]
Definition
(adj.) not consistent with or using reason; 'irrational fears'; 'irrational animals' .
(adj.) real but not expressible as the quotient of two integers; 'irrational numbers' .
Typed by Ada--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Not rational; void of reason or understanding; as, brutes are irrational animals.
(a.) Not according to reason; absurd; foolish.
(a.) Not capable of being exactly expressed by an integral number, or by a vulgar fraction; surd; -- said especially of roots. See Surd.
Checked by Angelique
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Brutish, brute, void of reason, without reason.[2]. Absurd, unreasonable, preposterous, foolish, silly, unwise, injudicious, extravagant.
Edited by Anselm
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See RATIONAL]
Checker: Tessie
Definition
adj. void of reason or understanding: absurd.—n. Irrational′ity.—adv. Irra′tionally.—Irrational numbers a term applied to those roots of numbers which cannot be accurately expressed by a finite number of figures—e.g. √2 is an irrational number.
Typist: Moira
Examples
- I find them irrational, perverse; they hinder me when I long to hurry forward. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- No, said he, I never said any thing so irrational. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- If you quote David Hume at them, and say that reason itself is an irrational impulse they think you are indulging in a silly paradox. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- His spirits, which had dropped at her last words, rose with an irrational leap. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- It was so completely incomprehensible and irrational. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- To do this, and to do it utterly alonegave me, perhaps an irrational, but a real pleasure. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Usually it loiters; but just when one has come to count upon its slowness, it may suddenly break into a wild irrational gallop. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The former secures unity, order, and law; the latter signify multiplicity and discord, irrational fluctuations from one estate to another. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- How inconsiderate, how indelicate, how irrational, how unfeeling had been her conduct! Jane Austen. Emma.
- It seems like topsy-turvyland to make reason serve the irrational. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It was so unlike him to yield to such an irrational impulse! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
Checked by Enrique