Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use principal in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Principal means primary; most important; first level in importance. Example: “Smith is the principal architect of this design.”

Examples of principal by meaning

adjectivePrimary; most important; first level in importance.

  • Smith is the principal architect of this design.
  • The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.
  • 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

adjectiveChosen 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.

nounThe 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
  • 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

nounThe 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
  • 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

nounA legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a...

  • 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.
  • The firm admitted the amount owed, but averred as an affirmative defense that it had hired the expert as an agent of a disclosed principal, the client.1958, American Law Institute., Restatement of the Law, Second: Agency 2d, volume 7, page 533

nounThe 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

More sentences with principal

  • The three principal calendars are the Gregorian, Jewish, and Islamic calendars.From the entry calendar
  • A spreadsheet app and a bookkeeping app are some of the principal tools of a bookkeeper.From the entry tool
  • The parameter of the principal axis of a conic section is called the latus rectum.From the entry parameter
  • Dude, I'd be careful around the principal; he's having a bad day.From the entry dude
  • The boys had planned to fight during recess, but backed down after the principal found out.From the entry back down
  • After the regime fell, the leader was executed and the principal party members were denaturalized and deported.From the entry denaturalize
  • Leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma are the principal types of blood cancer.From the entry blood cancer
  • The square roots of 4 are 2 and −2; the principal square root of 4 is 2.From the entry principal root
  • I have many principal records of him, including his birth registration.From the entry principal record
  • The principal vernacular of the United States is English.From the entry vernacular
  • What did happen when the principal found out?From the entry did
  • Our principal business here is to get drunk.From the entry business
  • Here comes the principal; we'd better scat.From the entry scat
  • The surety is liable for the debt of his principal.From the entry liable
  • I got expelled when I punked the principal.From the entry punk
  • The teacher sent the miscreants to see the school principal.From the entry miscreant
  • He referred the matter to the principal.From the entry refer
  • The surety claimed relief in terms of the beneficium excussionis, thus obliging the creditor to excuss against the principal debtor.From the entry excuss
  • There has been excussion against the principal debtor, who has no assets. The creditor is therefore proceeding against the surety.From the entry excussion
  • The principal made her change out of a knee-length skirt she wore to school into a pair of sweatpants.From the entry knee-length
  • When the student pulled a prank on the principal, the principal evened the score by giving the student a suspension.From the entry even the score
  • The 4th roots of 16 are 2, −2, 2i and −2i; the principal 4th root of 16 is 2.From the entry principal root
  • The principal insight behind the Christy pit was that a solid, subcritical core of plutonium could be compressed to criticality.From the entry Christy pit
  • The principal requested a moment of silence in memory of the two girls who died in a car accident over the weekend.From the entry moment of silence
  • Each luminarium is an original design. The principal difference between the different luminaria is found in the rendering of the domes and in the layout of the tunnels.From the entry luminarium
  • However, as the principal UK policymaker and the Cop26 president, the PM should have led the summit.2022 October 30, Fiona Harvey, quoting Carlos Fuller, “Global anger at Sunak’s Cop27 snub that raises fears over UK’s climate crisis…. From the entry fray
  • McKittrick said that in the early going she has had “countless” meetings with teachers and the principal.2020 September 24, Matt Vilano, “Students with special needs face virtual learning challenges”, in CNN. From the entry McKittrick

Meaning of principal

  1. adjective Primary; most important; first level in importance.
  2. adjective Of or relating to a prince; princely.
  3. adjective Chosen or assumed among a branch of possible values of a multi-valued function so that the function is single-valued.

Full definition of principal

Questions about principal in a sentence

How do you use principal in a sentence?
Principal is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Smith is the principal architect of this design.”
What is a short sentence with principal?
“My principal sells metal shims.”
What does principal mean?
Principal means primary; most important; first level in importance.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: principal (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use principal in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/principal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.