Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for principle

principle

[ prin-suh-puhl ]

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.

    Synonyms: proposition, postulate, axiom, theorem

  3. a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion:

    the principles of the Stoics.

  4. principles, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management:

    to adhere to one's principles; a kindergarten run on modern principles.

  5. guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct:

    a person of principle.

    Synonyms: honor, rectitude, probity, integrity

  6. an adopted rule or method for application in action:

    a working principle for general use.

  7. 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.

  8. the method of formation, operation, or procedure exhibited in a given case:

    a community organized on the patriarchal principle.

  9. a determining characteristic of something; essential quality.
  10. an originating or actuating agency or force:

    growth is the principle of life.

  11. an actuating agency in the mind or character, as an instinct, faculty, or natural tendency:

    the principles of human behavior.

  12. Chemistry. a constituent of a substance, especially one giving to it some distinctive quality or effect.
  13. Obsolete. beginning or commencement.


Principle

1

/ 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


principle

2

/ ˈprɪnsɪpəl /

noun

  1. a standard or rule of personal conduct

    a man of principle

  2. often plural a set of such moral rules

    he has no principles

    he'd stoop to anything

  3. adherence to such a moral code; morality

    torn between principle and expediency

    it's not the money but the principle of the thing

  4. a fundamental or general truth or law

    first principles

  5. the essence of something

    the male principle

  6. a source or fundamental cause; origin

    principle of life

  7. a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the behaviour of a system

    the principle of the conservation of mass

  8. an underlying or guiding theory or belief

    socialist principles

    the hereditary principle

  9. chem a constituent of a substance that gives the substance its characteristics and behaviour

    bitter principle

  10. in principle
    in theory or essence
  11. on principle
    because of or in demonstration of a principle
“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
Discover More

Usage

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

Confusables Note

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of principle1

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of principle1

C14: from Latin principium beginning, basic tenet
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. in principle, in essence or substance; fundamentally:

    to accept a plan in principle.

  2. on principle,
    1. 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.

    2. according to a fixed rule, method, or practice:

      He drank hot milk every night on principle.

More idioms and phrases containing principle

see in principle ; on principle .
Discover More

Synonym Study

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.
Discover More

Example Sentences

Overall, many of the principles Barr put forward are unobjectionable in general.

From Vox

Generally speaking, they do this by creating guidelines and principles for developers, funders, and regulators to follow.

You write all human languages are unified by a simple principle.

This means that, in principle, an algorithm might learn to represent the meaning of words simply from their distributions in a large amount of text.

Abouheif thinks that what is happening in carpenter ants may illustrate a broader principle involving symbioses and evolution.

But the qualities Mario Cuomo brought to public life—compassion, integrity, commitment to principle—remain in short supply today.

Nixon said defending the two islands was “a matter of principle.”

If the noble experiment of American democracy is to mean anything, it is fidelity to the principle of freedom.

Let the record show that espousing principles is common; acting on principle is rare.

The principle that outsiders should be welcomed and provided for was a cross-cultural theme in ancient cultures.

Many so-called "humming tones" are given for practice, but in accepting them observe whether the foregoing principle is obeyed.

The grand thing is to have each of your five fingers go "dum, dum," an equal number of times, which is the principle of all three!

He had hitherto lived for universal man:—his days should terminate on a different principle.

The gauge of railways in Great Britain was not fixed upon any scientific principle.

I have erected above 100 steam-engines on this principle, but never met with one accident or complaint against them.

Advertisement

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

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

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


principiumprincipled