rational /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/adjective 11noun 2forms 3 adjective11 •Capable of reasoning.Man is a rational creature. •Logically sound; not self-contradictory or otherwise absurd.His statements were quite rational. •Healthy or balanced intellectually; exhibiting reasonableness.Temperature 99.8 degrees. Pulse 104. She was quite conscious and rational at times, at others very noisy. — 1867 •Comprising, or expressible as, a ratio •Of a number, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two integers.¾ is a rational number, but √2 is an irrational number. •Of an algebraic expression in indeterminates, or more generally a function: capable of being expressed as the ratio of two polynomials. •Behaving according to some partial order of preferences. •Of a point on an algebraic variety over a field: whose coordinates belong to the field in question (in contrast to those points of the variety which are only defined over the algebraic closure of the base field). •Of a function between varieties: acting as a morphism on an open subset of its domain. •Of a variety: (informally) geometrically simple almost everywhere; (formally) birationally equivalent to projective space •(no longer used) synonymous replacement for "condensed" in condensed formula. noun2 •A rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.The quotient of two rationals is again a rational. •(historical) The breastplate worn by Israelite high priests. formsrationals · more rational · most rational