1. (

• apologize ,
• apologise ,
• excuse ,
• rationalize ,
• rationalise

) defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success" ;

2. (

• cut ,
• prune ,
• rationalize ,
• rationalise

) weed out unwanted or unnecessary things; "We had to lose weight, so we cut the sugar from our diet" ;

3. (

• rationalize ,
• rationalise

) structure and run according to rational or scientific principles in order to achieve desired results; "We rationalized the factory's production and raised profits" ;

4. (

• rationalize ,
• rationalise

) think rationally; employ logic or reason; "When one wonders why one is doing certain things, one should rationalize" ;

5. (

• rationalize ,
• rationalise ,

) remove irrational quantities from; "This function can be rationalized" ;