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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.

As in medicine, the first principle of policymakers is “do no harm.”

From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026

Our first principle, perhaps the most important, is a tribute to my Jewish mother: Meals matter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025

"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

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

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2024

The first principle was that charged particles moving in a perpendicular direction through a magnetic field follow a curved path.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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