Adjacent Words

Principal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRIN'CIPAL, a. [L. principalis, from princeps.]
1. Chief; highest in rank, character or respectability; as the principal officers of a government; the principal men of a city, town, or state. Acts 25. 1 Chronicles 24.
2. Chief; most important or considerable; as the principal topics of debate; the principal arguments in a case; the principal points of law; the principal beams of a building; the principal productions of a country.
Wisdom is the principal thing. Proverbs 4.
3. In law, a principal challenge, is where the cause assigned carries with it prima facie evidence of partiality, favor or malice.
4. In music, fundamental.
PRIN'CIPAL, n. A chief or head; one who takes the lead; as the principal of a faction, an insurrection or mutiny.
1. The president, governor, or chief in authority. We apply the word to the chief instructor of an academy or seminary of learning.
2. In law, the actor or absolute perpetrator of a crime, or an abettor. A principal in the first degree, is the absolute perpetrator of the crime; a principal in the second degree, is one who is present, aiding and abetting the fact to be done; distinguished from an accessory. In treason, all persons concerned are principals.
3. In commerce, a capital sum lent on interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; so called in distinction from interest or profits.
Taxes must be continued, because we have no other means for paying off the principal.
4. One primarily engaged; a chief party; in distinction from an auxiliary.
We were not principals, but auxiliaries in the war.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the main doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were primary targets"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch" [syn: chief, main, primary, principal, master] n
1: the original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated
2: the educator who has executive authority for a school; "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal" [syn: principal, school principal, head teacher, head]
3: an actor who plays a principal role [syn: star, principal, lead]
4: capital as contrasted with the income derived from it [syn: principal, corpus, principal sum]
5: (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement
6: the major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account [syn: principal, dealer]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin principalis, from princip-, princeps Date: 14th century 1. most important, consequential, or influential ; chief <the principal ingredient> <the region's principal city> 2. of, relating to, or constituting principal or a principal Usage: see principle • principally adverb II. noun Date: 14th century 1. a person who has controlling authority or is in a leading position: as a. a chief or head man or woman b. the chief executive officer of an educational institution c. one who engages another to act as an agent subject to general control and instruction; specifically the person from whom an agent's authority derives d. the chief or an actual participant in a crime e. the person primarily or ultimately liable on a legal obligation f. a leading performer ; star 2. a matter or thing of primary importance: as a. (1) a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund (2) the corpus of an estate, portion, devise, or bequest b. the construction that gives shape and strength to a roof and is usually one of several trusses; broadly the most important member of a piece of framing Usage: see principle • principalship noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 (usu. attrib.) first in rank or importance; chief (the principal town of the district). 2 main, leading (a principal cause of my success). 3 (of money) constituting the original sum invested or lent. --n. 1 a head, ruler, or superior. 2 the head of some schools, colleges, and universities. 3 the leading performer in a concert, play, etc. 4 a capital sum as distinguished from interest or income. 5 a person for whom another acts as agent etc. 6 (in the UK) a civil servant of the grade below Secretary. 7 the person actually responsible for a crime. 8 a person for whom another is surety. 9 each of the combatants in a duel. 10 a a main rafter supporting purlins. b a main girder. 11 an organ stop sounding an octave above the diapason. 12 Mus. the leading player in each section of an orchestra. Phrases and idioms: principal boy (or girl) an actress who takes the leading male (or female) part in a pantomime. principal clause Gram. a clause to which another clause is subordinate. principal in the first degree a person directly responsible for a crime as its actual perpetrator. principal in the second degree a person directly responsible for a crime as aiding in its perpetration. principal parts Gram. the parts of a verb from which all other parts can be deduced. Derivatives: principalship n. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L principalis first, original (as PRINCE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Principal Prin"ci*pal, n. 1. A leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant. 2. Hence: (Law) (a) The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory. (b) A chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety. (c) One who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent. --Wharton. --Bouvier. --Burrill. 3. A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous. Specifically: (a) (Com.) A capital sum of money, placed out at interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; -- so called in distinction from interest or profit. (b) (Arch. & Engin.) The construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, -- generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. Also, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing. (c) (Mus.) In English organs the chief open metallic stop, an octave above the open diapason. On the manual it is four feet long, on the pedal eight feet. In Germany this term corresponds to the English open diapason. (d) (O. Eng. Law) A heirloom; a mortuary. --Cowell. (e) pl. The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing. --Spenser. --J. H. Walsh. (f) One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned. --Oxf. Gloss. (g) A principal or essential point or rule; a principle. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Principal Prin"ci*pal, a. [F., from L. principalis. See Prince.] 1. Highest in rank, authority, character, importance, or degree; most considerable or important; chief; main; as, the principal officers of a Government; the principal men of a state; the principal productions of a country; the principal arguments in a case. Wisdom is the principal thing. --Prov. iv. 7. 2. Of or pertaining to a prince; princely. [A Latinism] [Obs.] --Spenser. Principal axis. See Axis of a curve, under Axis. Principal axes of a quadric (Geom.), three lines in which the principal planes of the solid intersect two and two, as in an ellipsoid. Principal challenge. (Law) See under Challenge. Principal plane. See Plane of projection (a), under Plane. Principal of a quadric (Geom.), three planes each of which is at right angles to the other two, and bisects all chords of the quadric perpendicular to the plane, as in an ellipsoid. Principal point (Persp.), the projection of the point of sight upon the plane of projection. Principal ray (Persp.), the line drawn through the point of sight perpendicular to the perspective plane. Principal section (Crystallog.), a plane passing through the optical axis of a crystal.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(principals) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Principal means first in order of importance. The principal reason for my change of mind is this. ...the country's principal source of foreign exchange earnings... Their principal concern is bound to be that of winning the next general election. = main, chief ADJ: ADJ n 2. The principal of a school, or in Britain the principal of a college, is the person in charge of the school or college. Donald King is the principal of Dartmouth High School. N-COUNT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

prin'-si-pal: Appears in the King James Version as a translation of nine Hebrew words (fewer in the Revised Version (British and American)), in one case (Isa 28:25) being used quite wrongly and in 2Ki 25:19 (Jer 52:25); 1Ch 24:31 gives a wrong sense (all corrected in the Revised Version (British and American)). In 1Ki 4:5, "principal officer" (the American Standard Revised Version "chief minister") is an arbitrary translation of kohen to avoid "priest" (so the English Revised Version; compare 2Sa 8:18).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. Chief, main, first, highest, leading, foremost, pre-eminent, cardinal, most considerable, most important, great, capital, essential. II. n. 1. Chief, head, leader, chief actor, chief party. 2. Master, head-master. 3. Employer. 4. Capital sum (placed at interest).

Moby Thesaurus

A per se, English horn, academic dean, ace, administration, administrator, all-absorbing, arch, assets, backing, banner, bassoon, block flute, bombard, boss, bourdon, capital, capital gains distribution, capital structure, capitalization, cardinal, cash reserves, cello, central, chairman, champion, chancellor, chief, chief executive officer, circulating capital, claribel, clarinet, clarion, commander, concert flute, controlling, cornet, cornopean, corpus, cromorna, crowning, cymbel, danseur noble, dean, dean of men, dean of women, diapason, director, diva, dominant, doyen, doyenne, dulciana, electronics king, equity capital, feature attraction, first, first tragedian, fixed capital, floating capital, flute stop, focal, foremost, foundation stop, fourniture, front, fugleman, fund, gamba, gedeckt, gemshorn, genius, great, harmonic flute, head, headliner, headmaster, headmistress, headmost, heavy lead, hegemonic, hero, heroine, high priest, higher-up, highest, honcho, hybrid stop, important, important person, investment, jeune premier, key, king, kingfish, kingpin, koppel flute, larigot, laureate, lead, leader, leading, leading lady, leading light, leading man, luminary, magisterial, maiden, main, major, managing director, master, master spirit, melodia, mixture, money, moneyed capital, mutation stop, nazard, nonpareil, oboe, octave, organ stop, outstanding, overriding, overruling, owner, paragon, paramount, personage, piccolo, plein jeu, posaune, predominant, preeminent, premier, preponderant, president, prevailing, prima ballerina, prima donna, primal, primary, prime, prodigy, prominent, proprietor, protagonist, provost, quint, quintaten, rank, ranket, ranking, rector, reed stop, register, resources, rohr flute, ruler, ruling, senior, sesquialtera, shawm, singer, sovereign, spitz flute, star, starring, stellar, stop, stopped diapason, stopped flute, string diapason, string stop, supereminent, superintendent, superior, superman, superstar, supervisor, supreme, the greatest, the most, tierce, top dog, topflight, topmost, tremolo, trombone, trumpet, twelfth, unda maris, uppermost, venture capital, vibrato, vice-chancellor, viola, virtuoso, voix celeste, vox angelica, vox humana, working capital