irrational

English

Etymology

From Latin irratiōnālis, from ir- + ratiōnālis.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭră'sh(ə)nəl, IPA: /ɪˈræʃ.(ə.)nəl/, X-SAMPA: /I"r{S.(@.)n@l/

Adjective

irrational (comparative more irrational, superlative most irrational)

1. Not rational; unfounded or nonsensical.

   an irrational decision

   • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[1]

     Where the Joker preys on our fears of random, irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.

2. (mathematics, arithmetic, number theory, not comparable) Of a real number, that cannot be written as the ratio of two integers.

   The number π is irrational.

Antonyms

• (mathematics): rational

Hyponyms

• (mathematics): transcendental

Derived terms

• irrational number

Translations

unfounded or nonsensical

• Armenian: իռացիոնալ (hy) (iṙac’ional)
• Catalan: bèstia (ca), irracional (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不合理 (cmn) (bùhélǐ)

• Danish: irrationel (da)
• Dutch: irrationeel (nl), irrationele (nl), onzinnig (nl), onzinnige (nl), onredelijk (nl), onredelijke (nl)
• Esperanto: malracia (eo)
• Finnish: epälooginen (fi), irrationaalinen (fi)
• French: irrationnel (fr)
• German: irrational (de)
• Hungarian: ésszerűtlen (hu), irracionális (hu)

• Italian: irrazionale (it)
• Japanese: 不合理 (ja) (fugōri)
• Korean: 불합리한 (ko)
• Norwegian: irrasjonell (no)
• Polish: nieracjonalny (pl), irracjonalny (pl) m
• Romanian: irațional (ro) m and n, nerațional (ro) m and n
• Russian: нерациональный (ru) (neracionálʹnyj), иррациональный (ru) (irracionálʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: iracionalan (sh) m, nerazuman (sh) m
• Swedish: irrationell (sv)
• Telugu: అసంబద్ధము (asaMbaddhamu)

mathematics: of a number

• Armenian: իռացիոնալ (hy) (iṙac’ional)
• Catalan: irracional (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無理數 (cmn), 无理数 (cmn) (wúlǐshù)

• Czech: iracionální (cs)
• Danish: irrational (da)
• Dutch: irrationaal (nl), irrationale (nl)
• Esperanto: neracionala (eo)
• Finnish: irrationaalinen (fi)
• French: irrationnel (fr) m, irrationnelle (fr) f

• German: irrational (de)
• Greek: άρρητος (el) (árritos)
• Hungarian: irracionális (hu)
• Icelandic: óræður (is) m
• Japanese: 無理数 (ja) (murisū)
• Korean: 무리수 (ko)
• Polish: niewymierny (pl) m
• Russian: иррациональный (ru) (irracionálʹnyj)
• Swedish: irrationell (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: irasional, tak masuk akal

Noun

irrational (plural irrationals)

1. A real number that can not be expressed as the quotient of two integers, an irrational number.
   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.24:

     The square root of 2, which was the first irrational to be discovered, was known to the early Pythagoreans, and ingenious methods of approximating to its value were discovered.

Translations

irrational number

• Icelandic: óræð tala (is) f
• Korean: 무리수 (ko)

• Polish: ‎liczba niewymierna f