Meaning

noun the proposition arrived at by logical reasoning (such as the proposition that must follow from the major and minor premises of a syllogism)

noun logical and methodical reasoning

originBorrowed from French ratiocination, from Latin ratiōcinātiō (“argumentation, reasoning, ratiocination; a syllogism”), from ratiōcinātus (“reckoned”) + -tiō (suffix forming a noun relating to some action or the result of an action). Ratiōcinātus is the perfect passive participle of ratiōcinor (“to compute, reckon; to argue, infer”), from ratiō (“reason, explanation”) (from reor (“to calculate,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0