Definition of "ratiocination" [ra•ti•oc•i•na•tion]

• Reasoning, conscious deliberate inference; the activity or process of reasoning. (noun)
• Thought or reasoning that is exact, valid and rational. (noun)
• A proposition arrived at by such thought. (noun)

Wiktionary.org : Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• "Argumentative as the Buddhist suttas are, their aim is strictly practical, even when their language appears scholastic, and the burden of all their ratiocination is the same and very simple."
• "There is a narrower sense, in which the name reasoning is confined to the form of inference which is termed ratiocination, and of which the syllogism is the general type."
• "Up against a ticking clock, myriad plot twists and turns and a roster of red herring suspects, the hero eventually solves the mystery through logical deduction, a process known as ratiocination, not to mention a little luck."