Phrase guide

rhyme or reason

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Logic; common sense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, uncountable

Examples

  • Prices vary considerably from one town to another with no apparent rhyme or reason.
  • He would often fly into an unexpected rage without rhyme or reason.
  • I could see no rhyme or reason for the referee's decision. It was baffling!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of Middle French n'y avoir ryme ne raison (Eustache Deschamps), attributed to the poet Edmund Spenser in a conversation with Queen Elizabeth I.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: никаква мисъл (nikakva misǎl) — logic or common sense
  • Bulgarian: никаква логика (nikakva logika) — logic or common sense
  • Finnish: tolkku — logic or common sense
  • Finnish: syyttä suotta — logic or common sense
  • French: n'avoir ni queue ni tête — logic or common sense
  • French: ne rimer à rien — logic or common sense
  • Galician: sen ton nin son — logic or common sense
  • German: Sinn und Verstand — logic or common sense
  • Italian: né capo né coda — logic or common sense
  • Italian: senza capo né coda — logic or common sense
  • Polish: but see bez ładu i składu — logic or common sense
  • Portuguese: sem pé nem cabeça — logic or common sense
  • Russian: ни скла́ду, ни ла́ду (ni skládu, ni ládu) — logic or common sense
  • Scottish Gaelic: gun ì, gun ò, gun adhbhar — logic or common sense
  • Spanish: sin ton ni son — logic or common sense
  • Spanish: sin ton y sin son — logic or common sense
  • Spanish: sin pies ni cabeza — logic or common sense
  • Spanish: no tener / llevar pies ni cabeza — logic or common sense
  • Spanish: razón alguna — logic or common sense
  • Swedish: rim och reson — logic or common sense