Phrase guide

stand to reason

verb · 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌstænd tə ˈɹiːzn̩/
  • General-American: /ˌstænd tə ˈɹiz(ə)n/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːzən

1

verb

Meaning 1

To seem logical, rational, or reasonable; to make sense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From stand (“(archaic or obsolete) to be consistent; to accord, agree”) + to + reason.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 有道理 (yǒu dàolǐ) — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有意義 /有意义 (yǒu yìyì) — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Finnish: olla pääteltävissä — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • French: tomber sous le sens — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • German: naheliegen — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Japanese: 道理に適う (dōri ni kanau) — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Japanese: 然もありなん (samoarinan) — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Manx: lhie — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Norwegian Bokmål: synes fornuftig — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Norwegian Bokmål: synes logisk — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Polish: być logicznym — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Serbo-Croatian: ста̀јати — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense
  • Serbo-Croatian: stàjati — to seem logical, rational, or reasonable — see also make sense