prerational
- adjective
- /ˌpriˈræʃənl/
- Formal
:
preracional
- If we are naturalists, we may want to call this sort of commitment not prerational but irrational.
Examples
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His prerational behavior showed that his actions were driven by deep-seated fears rather than logic.
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Thus, it depends a good deal on the first strategy: that of finding and enlisting the support of prerational soulmates.
Academic text (1992) -
It seems best to drop the charges of irrationality altogether and admit that what is really at issue is the choice of prerational starting points.
Academic text (1992) -
Even if such an agreement were reached, it wouldn't be the triumph of some universal rationality but, rather, the triumph of certain prerational values.
Academic text (1992) -
Yet The King and I, and sentimental orientalist texts in general, challenge this ontological binary by aligning the West with the interiority that Kissinger identifies as prerational.
Academic text (2012) -
Thus, the morally good person will labor consistently to unify prerational inclinations, desires, emotions, and passions with his or her reflective grasp of the human good, so that he or she is spontaneously, and without internal resistance, able to realize the good when it is known.
Academic text (2003) -
Her prerational instincts kicked in, guiding her to flee from danger before she even realized it.
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The child's prerational response to the loud noise was to cry and seek comfort from her mother.
Synonyms
28
4.1
A natural quick action or feeling that happens without thinking
12
4.2
A quick natural reaction that happens without thinking
Happening without thinking, like an automatic feeling or reaction
A stage before people learn to think clearly that is often based on feelings or stories
Happening before someone learns clear ideas or names for things
How Rational
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Prerational comes from pre- meaning 'before' and rational from a word meaning 'reason'. So prerational describes actions or feelings that happen before 'reason' or conscious thought, like instincts and early childhood responses.