a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one; "finds himself in a most awkward predicament"; "the woeful plight of homeless people"
the act of starting something; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations"
the first part or section of something; "`It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story"
the event consisting of the start of something; "the beginning of the war"
the place where something begins, where it springs into being; "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root"
the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her"
characterized by the attitude of a philosopher; meeting trouble with level-headed detachment; "philosophical resignation"; "a philosophic attitude toward life"
characteristic of or imbued with the attitude of a philosopher or based on philosophy; "that breadth of outlook that distinguishes the philosophic mind"; "their differences were philosophical"
the capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination; "we are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil"
a fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion; "there is reason to believe he is lying"
an explanation of the cause of some phenomenon; "the reason a steady state was never reached was that the back pressure built up too slowly"
a rational motive for a belief or action; "the reason that war was declared"; "the grounds for their declaration"
think logically; "The children must learn to reason"
decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion; "We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house"