Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
“Right reason”, which regards virtue as desirable in itself.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
First attested in an English text in 1677; borrowed from Latin rēcta ratiō (“right reason”), a calque of Ancient Greek ὀρθὸς λόγος (orthòs lógos). Cf. Cicero, De leg. I, 7, I, 2: “Recta ratio - quae cum sit lex, lege quoque consociati homines cum diis putandi sumus.” Term used in a letter to "Tom" by John Locke, October 20, 1659: “...We are all centaurs, and ’tis the beast that carries us, and everyone’s recta ratio is but the traverses of his own steps.”
