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stranger
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Is there a word that describes an individual that can always find a reason for justifying any action? The action a may or may not be a moral issue but they will still justify it through some skewed reasoning that may sound rational.
I heard a radio DJ say the word and definition but I couldn't write it down at the time.
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veteran
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Here's one that fits...
rationalization noun (psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and feelings.
also to rationalize verb to defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning.
Last edited by themilum; 04/22/07 06:45 PM.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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You might try OneLook's Reverse Dictionary. However, it may return thousands of hits, only .01 percent of which will be at all relevant
At least, that's been my experience. One of these days when there's nothing else to do I shall contact them with my complaint and suggest they provide an alternate means for a fewer number of more applicable hits
Unless you feel the same way and volunteer to say it better than I could
dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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it might help to understand the way OneLook's reverse dictionary works: it simply searches the definitions in the data base for your keyword or phrase and returns the resulting hits -- which explains all of the seeming irrelevants.
try couching your complaint in terms relevant to that!
-joe (non sequitur) friday
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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James (welcome aboard James)is looking for a word to describe the person not the activity. A rationalist is someone else altogether. Any other suggested words?
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addict
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Carpal Tunnel
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Lawyers are pretty good at this . And politicians. (no, this is no undercover political post.)  I'm really curious to read that word.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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tsu: I had suspected that's the way it works. My suggestion entails a possible link to an algorithm more extensive in its breadth but returning fewer but more pertinent hits
dalehileman
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journeyman
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Rationalists don't rationalize their acts, Rationalizers rationalize their acts. As opposed to guns and people, where guns clearly kill people.
I exist! I am a pedant! I have a foreboding signature!
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James (welcome aboard James)is looking for a word to describe the person not the activity. A rationalist is someone else altogether. Any other suggested words? Is zatso, Zed? James (if you read carefully) is asking for an existing word for one who rationalizes incongruously, not for the invention of a word that might fit. Right, James? So to personify a characteristic we can simply add an "-er" at the end. e.g. rationalizationerOr, in your case, a "-ette" would fit. e.g. rationalizationetteThere is a tsuwm-type word for this type of word construction but I forget what it is. 
Last edited by themilum; 04/25/07 08:46 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I wonder if James V is still doing a little memory search, cause tsuwm must have forgotten his tsuwm type word too.
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Carpal Tunnel
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... guns clearly kill people. Guns don't kill people; bullets kill people.
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Carpal Tunnel
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..except you bust them dead upside they head with one.
-joe (noir) friday
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... guns clearly kill people. Guns don't kill people; bullets kill people. "It's not the bullet that kills you, it's the hole" - Laurie Anderson
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yah , come on in the end it's heart failure and total loss of brain activity that kills you. Now where is that word someone needed so badly he does not not seem to care any more?
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addict
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...There is a tsuwm-type word for this type of word construction but I forget what it is. Solipsism?
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Pooh-Bah
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The derogatory side of sophist seems to come close with the added advantage that if they know what it means you can claim it's not an insult and mention Socrates.
(I LIU)
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stranger
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You missed the mark regarding guns. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Therefore, gun control is hitting your target.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I believe the gun *helps.
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enthusiast
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... guns clearly kill people. Guns don't kill people; bullets kill people. "It's not the bullet that kills you, it's the hole" - Laurie Anderson Then, as I have always said, we simply need to outlaw bullets! (I imagine a world where people are throwing guns at each other)
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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