That which begins or originates something; the source or first cause.
The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states.
The initial portion of some extended thing.
That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
Of or relating to the first portion of some extended thing.
That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
A premise placed after its conclusion.
A motive for an action or a determination.
Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
To support with reasons, as a request.
To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.
To persuade by reasoning or argument.
To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument.
To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.
To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.