Word.ws English Dictionary

principle of charity

principle of charity proper noun: the principle according to which an argument should be evaluated in light of its best, strongest possible interpretation.

Proper noun

the principle of charity

  1. (rhetoric) The principle according to which an argument should be evaluated in light of its best, strongest possible interpretation.

Origin of principle of charity

Coined by Neil L. Wilson in the late 1950s.

Questions about principle of charity

What does principle of charity mean?
Principle of charity means the principle according to which an argument should be evaluated in light of its best, strongest possible interpretation.
What part of speech is principle of charity?
Principle of charity is a proper noun.

Words near principle of charity in the dictionary

  1. principiations
  2. principicide
  3. principium
  4. principium individuationis
  5. principle
  6. principle of charity
  7. principle of contradiction
  8. principle of excluded middle
  9. principle of explosion
  10. principle of indifference
  11. principle of insufficient reason

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: principle of charity (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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