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first principle

American

noun

any axiom, law, or abstraction assumed and regarded as representing the highest possible degree of generalization.

first principle British

noun

one of the fundamental assumptions on which a particular theory or procedure is thought to be based
an axiom of a mathematical or scientific theory

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The first principle of economics is: Don’t transfer income by distorting prices.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

"We hope this ban is only the start of a reckoning between society and the tech companies that built these platforms with growth as their first principle instead of safety."

From BBC • Dec. 11, 2025

The first principle is that the president normally should not be using the military to engage in domestic law enforcement.

From Slate • Sep. 3, 2025

"Moving forward, we need to design and optimize materials with sustainability metrics as a first principle."

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2024

The principles were Blindness, Loneliness, and Terror, the first principle necessarily and actively cultivated in order to deny the two others.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023