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principle - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'principle' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Principle [ n.]
- Beginning; commencement.
- A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
- An original faculty or endowment.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
2 . Principle [ v. t.]
- To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill.

Meaning of 'principle' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . principle [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a rule or standard especially of good behavior
Example in sentence:
  • a man of principle;
  • he will not violate his principles
Meaning (2):
- a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system
Example in sentence:
  • the principle of jet propulsion;
  • the principle of the conservation of mass;
  • the right-hand rule for inductive fields
Meaning (3):
- a basic truth or law or assumption
Example in sentence:
  • the principles of democracy
Meaning (4):
- (law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature)
Example in sentence:
  • the principles of internal-combustion engines;
  • the rationale for capital punishment
Meaning (5):
- a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct
Example in sentence:
  • their principles of composition characterized all their works

Nearby Words:

prial prian priapean priapism priapulacea pricasour price priced priceite priceless

See 'principle' also in:

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