1. (verb)apologize, apologise, excuse, justify, rationalize, rationalise defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success"
2. (verb)cut, prune, rationalize, rationalise weed out unwanted or unnecessary things "We had to lose weight, so we cut the sugar from our diet"
3. (verb)rationalize, rationalise structure and run according to rational or scientific principles in order to achieve desired results "We rationalized the factory's production and raised profits"
4. (verb)rationalize, rationalise think rationally; employlogic or reason "When one wonders why one is doing certain things, one should rationalize"
5. (verb)rationalize, rationalise removeirrational quantities from "This function can be rationalized"
4. (verb)rationalize to render rational; to free from radical signs or quantities
5. (verb)rationalize to use, and rely on, reason in forming a theory, belief, etc., especially in matters of religion: to accord with the principles of rationalism
Definitions of rationalize 
