Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

rationalize

 verb
     
ra‧tion‧al‧ize also rationalise British English [intransitive and transitive]
1 if you rationalize behaviour that is wrong, you invent an explanation for it so that it does not seem as bad:
When he fouls up, Glen always finds a way to rationalize what he's done.
2 British English to make a business more effective by removing unnecessary workers, equipment etc:
Our systems will be rationalized over the coming months.
—rationalization noun [uncountable and countable]
a major rationalization of the aircraft industry
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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