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principal value

American  

noun

Mathematics.

  1. a value selected at a point in the domain of a multiple-valued function, chosen so that the function has a single value at the point.

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.

With individual TIPS, the inflation adjustment builds over time as an increase in principal value that isn’t realized until maturity or sale.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

Semiannual interest is added to the principal value of the bond, compounding over the life of the bond.

From Barron's • Oct. 24, 2025

The principal value that Garland and the Justice Department are concerned with is the rule of law.

From Slate • Jun. 14, 2021

“Since then, Mr. Reich’s promise that the baby boomers would rework society into three stages of Consciousness has been revealed as so wacky that its principal value now is as a sort of joke.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 18, 2019

The principal value of cavalry is derived from its rapidity and ease of motion.

From The Art of War by Mendell, George Henry

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.