principal
Syllables: prin·ci·pal/ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/
principal adjective: primary; most important; first level in importance.
Adjective
principal (comparative more principal, superlative most principal)
- Primary; most important; first level in importance.
- Smith is the principal architect of this design.
- The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.
- Of or relating to a prince; princely.
- But walkt at will, and wandred to and fro, / In the pride of his freedome principall.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Chosen or assumed among a branch of possible values of a multi-valued function so that the function is single-valued.
- Two is the principal square root of 4. Both −2 and +2 are square roots of 4.
Noun
principal (countable and uncountable, plural principals)
- The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.
- A portion of your mortgage payment goes to reduce the principal, and the rest covers interest.
- In March 1902, I find in the statement of liabilities and assets £711 put down as arrears of interest, but there is no entry of arrears of principal.1902, William Pember Reeves, State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand, volume 1, Cambridge University Press, published 2011, page 342
- The chief administrator of a school.
- The important administrative figure to the teacher is the school principal.1971, Louis Kaplan, Education and Mental Health, page 413
- The problem was neatly summed up by one principal in Australia who said recently: ‘There is no incentive for me to develop my best teachers to become my successor.[…]’2008, Brian Dive, The Accountable Leader: Developing Effective Leadership Through Managerial Accountability, page 212
- Synonyms:
- headteacher, headmaster, headmistress
- The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.
- Unlike the students, Principal Robertson, who now resided almost alone in the College, continued to use the accustomed route on his visits to the Old Town; and it “became the joke of the day that from being the principal gate it had become only a gate for the Principal.”⁵1967, University of Edinburgh Graduates′ Association, University of Edinburgh Journal, Volumes 23-24, page 314
- Coordinate term: bursar
- A legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a negotiorum gestio acts.
- When an attorney represents a client, the client is the principal who permits the attorney, the client′s agent, to act on the client′s behalf.
- My principal sells metal shims.
- Synonyms:
- client
- The primary participant in a crime.
- The accessories may be prosecuted, tried and punished, though the principal has not been prosecuted or has been acquitted.1915, Eugene Allen Gilmore, Wiliam Charles Wermuth, Modern American Law, page 125
- Synonyms:
- ringleader
- Either party in a duel.
- The old man raised his arm as though it had been palsied, and fired, of course without effect. The other principal immediately deloped, much to the satisfaction of my friend and all present.1868, Andrew Steinmetz, The Romance of Duelling in All Times and Countries, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, page 107
- A partner or owner of a business.
- Synonyms:
- proprietor
- A type of stop on a pipe organ consisting of flue pipes with a bright tonal quality. They are also sometimes referred to as a diapason.
- The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
- The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.
- a birde whose principals be scarce growne out1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC
- The first two feathers - Principals1856, John Henry Walsh, Manual of British Rural Sports
- One of the turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and centre of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned
- An essential point or rule; a principle.
- Set two classes of monitors to question each other; so that one may try to outquestion the other. Explain to them the principal of every subject they have to teach.1847, Great Britain. Committee on Education, Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education, page 446
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- A dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company.
- A security principal.
- A main character or lead actor.
- Silverberg also gives the reader reader some excellent character insight; deep probes into the minds of all the principals bring the reader closer to the persons involved than might be thought possible with the plot so far removed from the realm of normality.1973 August 4, J. Ralf Green, “The Hossenpfepper Column”, in Gay Community News, page 3
principal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
principal in Hindi
- primary, main
- प्रमुख pramukh, मुख्य mukhya, प्रधान pradhān
- chief administrator of a school
- प्राचार्य prācārya, प्राचार्या prācāryā, मुख्याध्यापक mukhyādhyāpak, मुख्याध्यापिका mukhyādhyāpikā
principal in Tamil
- primary, main
- முதல் mutal, தலைமை talaimai
- money originally invested or loaned
- முதன்மைத் தொகை mutaṉmait tokai
principal in Marathi
- chief administrator of a school
- प्राचार्य prācārya, प्राचार्या prācāryā, मुख्याध्यापक mukhyādhyāpak
principal in Urdu
- اصل, اول, بڑا, مقدم, سرمایہ
More languagesFewer languages
- principal in Bengali
- প্রধান শিক্ষক prodhan śikkhok, মুহতামিম muhtamim
- principal in Telugu
- తల్లి talli, మొదలు modalu, మూలము mūlamu
- principal in Malayalam
- മൂലധനം, മുഖ്യമായ, ഉത്തമമായ, പ്രധാനി
- principal in Kannada
- ಮೇಲಾಳು, ಆಳಳವಿಗ, ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಮುಖ್ಯಸ್ಥ, ಪ್ರಧಾನ ನಟ
- principal in Punjabi
- ਮੂਲ mūl
- principal in Gujarati
- આચાર્ય, પ્રિન્સિપલ, આચાર્યશ્રી
- principal in Odia
- ପ୍ରଧାନଶିକ୍ଷକ
- principal in Assamese
- আচল asol
- principal in Nepali
- प्रधान pradhān, साँवा sā̃wā, प्रधानाध्यापक pradhānādhyāpak
- principal in Tagalog
- punong-guro, punungguro
- principal in Arabic
- رَئِيسِيّ raʔīsiyy, مُدِير mudīr, مُدِيرَة mudīra, مُوَكِّل muwakkil
- principal in Malay
- guru besar
- principal in Indonesian
- kepala sekolah, guru kepala
- principal in Thai
- ครูใหญ่ kruu-yài
- principal in Vietnamese
- chủ yếu, chính, hiệu trưởng
- principal in Myanmar
- အဓိက a.dhi.ka., ကျောင်းအုပ်ကြီး kyaung:upkri:, ကျောင်းအုပ် kyaung:up
Examples of principal in a sentence
- For many years, Oslo had no railway communication with Bergen and Stavanger, the principal seaports on the south-west coast.1956 April, H. A. Vallance, “To Oslo via Stavanger”, in Railway Magazine, page 213:
- Through 20 years in the industry, I've stayed on the staff engineer's path, and I'm now a senior principal engineer, parallel to a senior director on my company's career ladder.2022, Tanya Reilly, The Staff Engineer's Path, O'Reilly, →ISBN:
- If you know the principal amount, the interest rate, and the number of years the payments will be made, you can consult an amortization calculator or schedule to arrive at the monthly payment.2012, Fred Steingold, Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business, page 88:
- A National Standards Drafting Group of volunteer principals is currently drafting principal standards (Teaching Australia, 2007).2009, Colin J. Marsh, Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum, page 132:
Synonyms of principal
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of principal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more principal |
| superlative | most principal |
| alternative form (obsolete) | principall |
| Noun | |
| plural | principals |
Origin of principal
From Middle English principal, from Old French principal, from Latin prīncipālis.
Words formed from principal
- coprincipal
- nonprincipal
- principal-agent problem
- principal boy
- principal city
- principal ideal
- principal ideal domain
- principal ideal ring
- principal investigator
- principalism
- principalist
- principalness
- principal part
- principal photography
- principal quantum number
- principal record
- principal root
- principal square root
- principal ultrafilter
- subprincipal
- unprincipal
- vice-principal
Phrases with principal
- in principal
- principal boys
- principal parts
- principal roots
- principal cities
- principal ideals
- security principal
- principal ideal rings
- principal square roots
- principal ultrafilters
- principal ideal domains
- principal investigators
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about principal
- What does principal mean?
- Principal means primary; most important; first level in importance.
- What is principal in Hindi?
- Principal in Hindi is प्रमुख (pramukh), मुख्य (mukhya), प्रधान (pradhān). See Principal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use principal in a sentence?
- For many years, Oslo had no railway communication with Bergen and Stavanger, the principal seaports on the south-west coast.
- What part of speech is principal?
- Principal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce principal?
- Principal is pronounced /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/ (UK).
Words near principal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: principal (page history and authors); principal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); తల్లి (Telugu) (page history and authors); principal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); principal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮੂਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); principal (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); principal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); আচল (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “principal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/principal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.