Relating to reason; not physical; mental. Moral philosophy was his chiefest end; for the rational, the natural, and mathematics . . . were but simple pastimes in comparison of the other. Sir T. North.
Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with reason or understanding; reasoning. It is our glory and happiness to have a rational nature. Law.
Agreeable to reason; not absurd, preposterous, extravagant, foolish, fanciful, or the like; wise; judicious; as, rational conduct; a rational man.
Expressing the type, structure, relations, and reactions of a compound; graphic; -- said of formulæ. See under Formula. Rational horizon. (Astron.) See Horizon, 2 (b). -- Rational quantity (Alg. ), one that can be expressed without the use of a radical sign, or in extract parts of unity; -- opposed to irrational or radical quantity. -- Rational symptom (Med.), one elicited by the statements of the patient himself and not as the result of a physical examination.
A rational being. Young.
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