'Principle' definitions:
Definition of 'principle'
From: WordNet
noun
A basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct; "their principles of composition characterized all their works" [syn: principle, rule]
noun
A rule or standard especially of good behavior; "a man of principle"; "he will not violate his principles"
noun
A basic truth or law or assumption; "the principles of democracy"
noun
A rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system; "the principle of the conservation of mass"; "the principle of jet propulsion"; "the right-hand rule for inductive fields" [syn: principle, rule]
noun
Rule of personal conduct [syn: principle, precept]
noun
(law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature); "the rationale for capital punishment"; "the principles of internal-combustion engines" [syn: rationale, principle]
Definition of 'Principle'
From: GCIDE
- Principle \Prin"ci*ple\, n. [F. principe, L. principium beginning, foundation, fr. princeps, -cipis. See Prince.]
- 1. Beginning; commencement. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Doubting sad end of principle unsound. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause. [1913 Webster]
- The soul of man is an active principle. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
- 3. An original faculty or endowment. [1913 Webster]
- Nature in your principles hath set [benignity]. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering. --Stewart. [1913 Webster]
- 4. A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate. [1913 Webster]
- Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. --Heb. vi. 1. [1913 Webster]
- A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 5. A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle. [1913 Webster]
- All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind. --Law. [1913 Webster]
- 6. (Chem.) Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc. [1913 Webster]
- Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna. --Gregory. [1913 Webster]
- Bitter principle, Principle of contradiction, etc. See under Bitter, Contradiction, etc. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Principle'
From: GCIDE
- Principle \Prin"ci*ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Principled; p. pr. & vb. n. Principling.] To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill. [1913 Webster]
- Governors should be well principled. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
- Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired. --Locke. [1913 Webster] Princock
Synonyms of 'principle'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- a belief,
- a priori truth,
- activity,
- ambition,
- antecedents,
- article of faith,
- aspiration,
- at bottom,
- attitude,
- axiom,
- base,
- basement,
- basically,
- basis,
- bearing wall,
- bed,
- bedding,
- bedrock,
- belief,
- brocard,
- call,
- calling,
- campaign,
- canon,
- causation,
- cause,
- cause and effect,
- center,
- code,
- commandment,
- commitment,
- conscience,
- consideration,
- convention,
- core,
- credo,
- creed,
- criterion,
- crusade,
- determinant,
- determinative,
- dictate,
- dictum,
- doctrine,
- dogma,
- drive,
- element,
- elements,
- elixir,
- essence,
- essential,
- essentially,
- ethic,
- etiology,
- factor,
- faith,
- floor,
- flooring,
- flower,
- focus,
- fond,
- footing,
- form,
- formality,
- formula,
- formulary,
- foundation,
- fundament,
- fundamental,
- fundamentally,
- fundamentals,
- general principle,
- gist,
- given,
- goal,
- golden rule,
- grammar,
- gravamen,
- great cause,
- ground,
- grounds,
- groundwork,
- guide,
- guideline,
- guiding light,
- guiding principle,
- guiding star,
- hardpan,
- heart,
- honesty,
- hypostasis,
- idea,
- ideal,
- ideally,
- imperative,
- in essence,
- in theory,
- inner essence,
- inspiration,
- integrity,
- intention,
- interest,
- issue,
- kernel,
- law,
- law of nature,
- lifework,
- lodestar,
- mainspring,
- marrow,
- mass movement,
- matter,
- maxim,
- meat,
- mitzvah,
- model,
- moral,
- morality,
- morals,
- motive,
- movement,
- norm,
- norma,
- notion,
- nub,
- nucleus,
- nuts and bolts,
- occasion,
- order of nature,
- ordinance,
- pavement,
- philosophy,
- pith,
- point of view,
- postulate,
- precept,
- prescribed form,
- prescription,
- principium,
- principles,
- probity,
- Procrustean law,
- proposition,
- quid,
- quiddity,
- quintessence,
- radical,
- reason,
- reason for being,
- regulation,
- riprap,
- rock bottom,
- rubric,
- rudiment,
- rudiments,
- rule,
- sake,
- sap,
- score,
- seat,
- self-evident truth,
- sentiment,
- set form,
- settled principle,
- sill,
- solid ground,
- solid rock,
- soul,
- source,
- spirit,
- spring,
- standard,
- standing order,
- stereobate,
- stimulus,
- stuff,
- stylobate,
- substance,
- substratum,
- substruction,
- substructure,
- teaching,
- tenet,
- terra firma,
- the nitty-gritty,
- theorem,
- theoretically,
- truism,
- truth,
- ulterior motive,
- underbuilding,
- undercarriage,
- undergirding,
- underpinning,
- understruction,
- understructure,
- universal law,
- universal truth,
- uprightness,
- usage,
- viewpoint,
- vocation,
- working principle,
- working rule
Words containing 'Principle'
- Principled,
- Principling,
- in principle,
- principles,
- Bitter principle,
- Bitter principles,
- Principle of contradiction,
- Proximate principle,
- Vital principle,
- accounting principle,
- archimedes' principle,
- basic principle,
- exclusion principle,
- extractive principle,
- first principle,
- fundamental principle,
- guiding principle,
- high principled,
- indeterminacy principle,
- judicial principle,
- legal principle,
- life principle,
- localisation principle,
- localization principle,
- moral principle,
- nervous principle,
- pleasure principle,
- principle of equivalence,
- principle of parsimony,
- principle of relativity,
- principle of superposition,
- reality principle,
- superposition principle,
- uncertainty principle,
- working principle,
- High-principled,
- Principle of virtual velocities,
- Principle of vis viva,
- gestalt principle of organization,
- huygens' principle of superposition,
- le chatelier principle,
- le chatelier's principle,
- pauli exclusion principle,
- principle of liquid displacement,
- The let-alone principle,
- generally accepted accounting principles,
- mass-action principle,
- pleasure-pain principle,
- pleasure-unpleasure principle,
- le chatelier-braun principle