a well-thought-out reason

Question

Hello,Does "I have no well-thought-out reason for being here" sound fine to you? As far as I know it means "well planned/planned in every aspect".

Teechr · Accepted Answer

Gene93Does ... sound ~~fine~~ okay/natural to you?

Gene93I have no well-thought-out reason for being here

No, it's not natural. You don't/can't plan a reason for being somewhere.

Try,
I have a very good reason for being here.
I have a legitimate reason for being here.
I have a valid reason for being here.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Gene93Does "I have no well-thought-out reason for being here" sound fine to you?

It's OK
It means that the person is in a particular place, but there is no particular reason for his presence. He did not think about why he was going to be there in advance.

Gene93 · Answer

Thank you too, A. Stars. Cambridge dictionary defines "well thought out" as "planned in an effective way". Is there something the dictionary doesn't say? I know that dictionaries are not always right.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

The dictionary meaning if fine.

The meaning is good for a positive sentence like this one:
He was always successful because his actions, goals and decisions were well thought out in advance.

But in the example you have a negative sentence.
He was not always successful because his actions, goals and decisions were not well thought out. When he was successful, it was just due to luck or chance.

Anonymous · Answer

In short, yes, it sounds fine to me. For most purposes, the meaning you've applied will do just fine. You don't need first hyphen you used; "well thought-out" is the correct punctuation for the phrase. I would have written "good," "well developed" or something that doesn't end a phrase with a preposition, but that's how I was raised. (Where is he at? Behind the preposition.) Even so, I've gradually become less adamant about adhering to that very formal grammatical convention.

Connotatively and strictly speaking, "well thought out" refers to more than just planning for it includes also the notion of a vision and that of one's having clearly defined goals one acts to achieve. One may think of that as identifying an overall vision, developing one or more strategies for achieving it, and then coming up with a set of tactics that successfully (rather than inhibit) bring the vision to fruition. That said, I think in most situations, that level of precision and comprehensivity of meaning is neither expected nor needed. In the specific phrase you cited, the word "reason" makes it clear that you don't intend the larger scope of connotation "well thought-out" carries when it appears absent any additional context, which is what "reason" provides in your statement.

If there be any ameliorative action I may suggest regarding "well thought-out," it's that of trading "thought-out" for a single word in routine written or spoken communication. That's really just "wordsmithing" the phrase to amend it to fit my linguistic style. So, again, yes, you're "good" with "well thought-out."

a well-thought-out reason

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