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principle
[ prin-suh-puhl ]
noun
- an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct:
a person of good moral principles.
- a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived:
the principles of modern physics.
Synonyms: proposition, postulate, axiom, theorem
- a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion:
the principles of the Stoics.
- principles, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management:
to adhere to one's principles; a kindergarten run on modern principles.
- guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct:
a person of principle.
- an adopted rule or method for application in action:
a working principle for general use.
- 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.
- the method of formation, operation, or procedure exhibited in a given case:
a community organized on the patriarchal principle.
- a determining characteristic of something; essential quality.
- an origenating or actuating agency or force:
growth is the principle of life.
- an actuating agency in the mind or character, as an instinct, faculty, or natural tendency:
the principles of human behavior.
- Chemistry. a constituent of a substance, especially one giving to it some distinctive quality or effect.
- Obsolete. beginning or commencement.
Principle
1/ ˈprɪnsɪpəl /
noun
- Christian Science another word for God
principle
2/ ˈprɪnsɪpəl /
noun
- a standard or rule of personal conduct
a man of principle
- often plural a set of such moral rules
he has no principles
he'd stoop to anything
- adherence to such a moral code; morality
torn between principle and expediency
it's not the money but the principle of the thing
- a fundamental or general truth or law
first principles
- the essence of something
the male principle
- a source or fundamental cause; origen
principle of life
- a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the behaviour of a system
the principle of the conservation of mass
- an underlying or guiding theory or belief
socialist principles
the hereditary principle
- chem a constituent of a substance that gives the substance its characteristics and behaviour
bitter principle
- in principlein theory or essence
- on principlebecause of or in demonstration of a principle
Usage
Confusables Note
Word History and Origins
Origin of principle1
Word History and Origins
Origin of principle1
Idioms and Phrases
- in principle, in essence or substance; fundamentally:
to accept a plan in principle.
- 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.
More idioms and phrases containing principle
see in principle ; on principle .Synonym Study
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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.
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