Dictionary

unreasonability en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English unresonabiltee, unresonabylite, equivalent to unreason(able) + -ability.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) Synonym of unreasonableness.
   • But then, it is not unheard-of for reviewers to berate a writer for writing a book according to his own taste, and not the book the reviewer would have written, if the reviewer were only capable of writing. It would be unreasonable to expect anything else. I have my own unreasonabilities, too. I can never quite understand the difficulty that people have in appreciating the peculiar problems of a prolific writer. 1983 June, Isaac Asimov, “Editorial: Unreasonable!”, in Shawna McCarthy, editor, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, volume 7, number 6 (66 overall), New York, N.Y.: Davis Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 11–12:
   • Jesse knew just how hard this world could be for blacks, especially a black girl. So Jesse groomed Silver with information to offset any and all misconceptions that might hinder her. She programmed her to look at things through a totally different spectrum, and the notion of possibilities instead of complacency and unreasonabilities were taught to her all her life. 2004 July, Treasure E. Blue, “The Rules”, in Harlem Girl Lost: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Peaceful Storm Publishing, →ISBN, page 42:
   • Such strange results are not encountered when solving differential equations with initial conditions. Thus, it may seem to the reader that problems with boundary conditions are curious problems without reasonable physical or technical motivation or interpretation. The converse is true. For example, in the case of eigenvalue problems (see Chapter 1) corresponding “unreasonabilities” are eminently interesting for engineers, producing “critical values” in buckling problems, and so forth. 1999, Karel Rektorys, “Introduction”, in Solving Ordinary and Partial Boundary Value Problems in Science and Engineering, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 3:

Forms

Synonyms

unreasonableness