rationalisieren
German, verb
rationalisieren is spelled R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-I-S-I-E-R-E-N (15 letters) and appears about once in every 3 million words in written German, the 86,281st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Rationalisieren is a German verb meaning “to rationalize (to make more rational)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Rationalisieren is a different word: “gerund of rationalisieren”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Arbeitsabläufe effektiv(er) gestalten und damit Leistung/Output erhöhen”.
What does rationalisieren mean in English?
verb
- 1
to rationalize (to make more rational)
- 2
to optimize, improve, streamline in order to make more efficient
- 3
to rationalize (to post hoc justify emotionally-motivated behavior)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of rationalisieren
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Arbeitsabläufe effektiv(er) gestalten und damit Leistung/Output erhöhen 2. rein verstandesmäßig betrachten 3. „Gesamtheit der von der sozialistischen Gesellschaft getroffenen Maßnahmen zur rationellen Gestaltung der gesellschaftlichen Arbeit auf allen Gebieten, die auf die Erhöhung der Effektivität der Volkswirtschaft und gleichzeitig auf die Verbesserung der Arbeitsbedingungen und die Steigerung des Lebensstandards der Werktätigen gerichtet sind“
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of rationalisieren
- rationalisiert present singular third-person
- rationalisierte past
- haben auxiliary
- rationalisierend participle present
- rationalisiere first-person indicative present
- rationalisierst indicative present second-person
- rationalisierest second-person singular subjunctive
- rationalisieret plural second-person subjunctive
- rationalisierten first-person indicative plural
- rationalisiertest indicative preterite second-person
- rationalisiertet indicative plural preterite
- rationalisier imperative second-person singular
- habe rationalisiert first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben rationalisiert first-person indicative multiword-construction
- rationalisier! imperative singular
- rationalisiere! imperative singular
- rationalisiert! imperative plural
- rationalisiert haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to rationalisieren
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is rationalisieren in German?
rationalisieren appears about once in every 3 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).