Meaning

Lack of reason or rationality; unreasonableness; irrationality..

Definitions by Sense

1. Lack of reason or rationality; unreasonableness; irrationality.
2. Nonsense; folly; absurdity.
3. (transitive, rare) To prove to be unreasonable; disprove by argument.
4. (rare) To apply false logic or think without logic.
5. (rare) To make unreasonable; to deprive of reason.

Example Sentences

c. 1566, John Knox, The Historie of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland, Book I, London: 1644, Another day the same Frier made another Sermon of the Abbot of Unreason, unto whom, and whose Laws, he compareth Prelats of that age; for they were subject to no Laws, no more than was the Abbot of Unreason.

1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, “Shiraz, 18 February,” Of all the foreigners I have met in this country, diplomats, business men, and archaeologists of many nationalities and varying terms of residence, Christopher is the only one who likes its inhabitants, sympathizes with their nationalist growing-pains, and consistently upholds their virtues, sometimes to the point of unreason.

[…] it was long ere these scandalous and immoral sports could be abrogated;—the rude multitude continued attached to their favourite pastimes, and, both in England and Scotland, the mitre of the Catholic—the rochet of the reformed bishop—and the cloak and band of the Calvinistic divine—were, in turn, compelled to give place to those jocular personages, the Pope of Fools, the Boy-Bishop, and the Abbot of Unreason.

What is called the great popular heart was awakened, that indefinable something which may be, according to circumstances, the highest reason or the most brutish unreason.

Traditionally, black American dance students have been consistently steered away from classical ballet and toward the supposedly more “suitable” fields of modern, ethnic or Broadway-chorus dancing. The Harlem Dance Theater performances showed beyond doubt that the practice was based not on rhyme but on prejudiced unreason.

The best preservative for unreason is to make a religion of it.

Kelly, who specialised in implacable unreason about climate change before his conversion to stubborn contrarianism about various Covid remedies [...] speaks to a constituency the Coalition wants to court: a group of voters tempted to vote for rightwing protest parties rather than the Liberals and the Nationals.

The reason of the unreasonable usage my reason has met with, so unreasons my reason, that I have reason to complain of your beauty :" and how did he enjoy the following flower of composition ! "

Word Forms

• unreasons
• unreasoning
• unreasoned

Synonyms for unreason

Related Words

When Should You Use Unreason?

Use unreason when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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