unreason

noun

un·​rea·​son ˌən-ˈrē-zᵊn How to pronounce unreason (audio)
ˈən-ˌrē-
: the absence of reason or sanity : irrationality, madness

Examples of unreason in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Its opening paragraph: For years, many of us have noted and analyzed the phenomenon of Bush hatred — and all the unreason, hysteria, and meanness packed into it. Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 10 Oct. 2024 Hayek’s market seems to conjure a wondrous democracy of unreason. Corey Robin, The New Yorker, 29 June 2024 The country has entered what can only be characterized as an age of unreason, with large swaths of its population embracing wild conspiracy theories. Jonathan Kirshner, Foreign Affairs, 29 Jan. 2021 Like many politicians, Khan is trying to reason with a maelstrom of unreason. Peter Guest, WIRED, 26 Mar. 2024 My piece began, For years, many of us have noted and analyzed the phenomenon of Bush hatred — and all the unreason, hysteria, and meanness packed into it. Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 12 May 2023 The slaughter of 20 million people grotesquely buttressed his insistence that conscious rationality co-exists with aggressive unreason and his skepticism toward naïve narratives of inevitable social and technological progress. Patrick Blanchfield, The New Republic, 1 Sep. 2022 With its double binds and reversals, life in a pandemic feels beholden to dream logic, to the unreason of lying awake in the dark. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 4 June 2020 There’s a lot of collective anguish lurking under all the electronic flame-throwing, bizarre behavior on campus, and other manifestations of social unraveling and descent into unreason. Nr Interview, National Review, 27 Aug. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1827, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unreason was in 1827

Dictionary Entries Near unreason

Cite this Entry

“Unreason.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unreason. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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