principle

[ prin-suh-puhl ]
See synonyms for: principleprinciples on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct: a person of good moral principles.

  2. a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived: the principles of modern physics.

  1. a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion: the principles of the Stoics.

  2. principles, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management: to adhere to one's principles; a kindergarten run on modern principles.

  3. guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct: a person of principle.

  4. an adopted rule or method for application in action: a working principle for general use.

  5. a rule or law exemplified in natural phenomena, the construction or operation of a machine, the working of a system, or the like: the principle of capillary attraction.

  6. the method of formation, operation, or procedure exhibited in a given case: a community organized on the patriarchal principle.

  7. a determining characteristic of something; essential quality.

  8. an originating or actuating agency or force: growth is the principle of life.

  9. an actuating agency in the mind or character, as an instinct, faculty, or natural tendency: the principles of human behavior.

  10. Chemistry. a constituent of a substance, especially one giving to it some distinctive quality or effect.

  11. Obsolete. beginning or commencement.

Idioms about principle

  1. in principle, in essence or substance; fundamentally: to accept a plan in principle.

  2. on principle,

    • according to personal rules for right conduct; as a matter of moral principle: He refused on principle to agree to the terms of the treaty.

    • according to a fixed rule, method, or practice: He drank hot milk every night on principle.

Origin of principle

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, alteration of Middle French principe or Latin prīncipium, on the analogy of manciple; see principium

synonym study For principle

1-3. Principle, canon, rule imply something established as a standard or test, for measuring, regulating, or guiding conduct or practice. A principle is a general and fundamental truth that may be used in deciding conduct or choice: to adhere to principle. Canon, originally referring to an edict of the Church (a meaning that it still retains), is used of any principle, law, or critical standard that is officially approved, particularly in aesthetics and scholarship: canons of literary criticism. A rule, usually something adopted or enacted, is often the specific application of a principle: the golden rule.

confusables note For principle

See principal.

Other words for principle

Words that may be confused with principle

  • principal, principle (see confusables note at principal; see synonym study at the current entry)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use principle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for principle (1 of 2)

principle

/ (ˈprɪnsɪpəl) /


noun
  1. a standard or rule of personal conduct: a man of principle

  2. (often plural) a set of such moral rules: he'd stoop to anything; he has no principles

  1. adherence to such a moral code; morality: it's not the money but the principle of the thing; torn between principle and expediency

  2. a fundamental or general truth or law: first principles

  3. the essence of something: the male principle

  4. a source or fundamental cause; origin: principle of life

  5. a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the behaviour of a system: the principle of the conservation of mass

  6. an underlying or guiding theory or belief: the hereditary principle; socialist principles

  7. chem a constituent of a substance that gives the substance its characteristics and behaviour: bitter principle

  8. in principle in theory or essence

  9. on principle because of or in demonstration of a principle

Origin of principle

1
C14: from Latin principium beginning, basic tenet

usage For principle

Principle and principal are often confused: the principal (not principle) reason for his departure; the plan was approved in principle (not in principal)

British Dictionary definitions for Principle (2 of 2)

Principle

/ (ˈprɪnsɪpəl) /


noun
  1. Christian Science another word for God

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with principle

principle

see in principle; on principle.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.