without rhyme or reason
1
6.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
sin ton ni son
- Father Bernard seemed to have some hidden agenda for her, one that shifted without rhyme or reason.
Examples
-
We get him dressed; he admires himself in the mirror; and then he wanders around the house, upstairs and down, basement and attic, without rhyme or reason, vaguely wondering what is happening to him.
Fiction book (2000) -
She travels to Venice, Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, and Barcelona without rhyme or reason.
Fiction book (1997) -
Something that seems strange to other people: occasionally he raises his voice all of a sudden, without rhyme or reason, as if snapping out of a daydream, and announces that if any man knows Paris, inside and out, it's him!
Fiction book (2001) -
There is no attempt to bridge the two styles; they are forced to cohabitate without rhyme or reason to unite them.
-
Tiffany glass vases were positioned here and there without rhyme or reason.
Synonyms
29
6.9
In a way that cannot be explained or understood
27
5.5
In a way that has no clear reason or plan
15
4.6
In a way that does not use clear thinking
1
6.8
In a way that does not follow clear thinking
1
6.9
In a way that people cannot understand
1
6.5
In a way that is not logical or clear
In a way that is not based on reason or careful thinking
For no reason
How Random
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core sense — lacking a reason or explanation — is directly recoverable from 'without' + 'reason', so a learner who knows those words would grasp most of the meaning. However, 'rhyme' is a metaphorical/intensifying element and the exact pairing is conventional and idiomatic, so full comprehension of the fixed phrase requires some exposure.
Etymology
Without rhyme or reason comes from an old idea that things can be ordered by rhyme (like a poem) or by reason (clear thinking). If something had neither, it felt messy or 'random', so today the phrase means 'with no logical explanation'.