# rhyme or reason

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/rhyme-or-reason
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

Logic; common sense.

## Examples

- His strange plan has no rhyme or reason.
- The instructions for this new machine are so confusing that they seem to have no rhyme or reason.
- The sudden changes to the company policy lacked any rhyme or reason, leaving the employees frustrated and unable to understand the new direction.

## Origin

Calque of Middle French n'y avoir ryme ne raison (Eustache Deschamps), attributed to the poet Edmund Spenser in a conversation with Queen Elizabeth I.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.