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Webster 1913 Edition

Principle

Prin′ci-ple

,
Noun.
[F.
principe
, L.
principium
beginning, foundation, fr.
princeps
,
-cipis
. See
Prince
.]
1.
Beginning; commencement.
[Obs.]
Doubting sad end of
principle
unsound.
Spenser.
2.
A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
The soul of man is an active
principle
.
Tillotson.
3.
An original faculty or endowment.
Nature in your
principles
hath set [benignity].
Chaucer.
Those active
principles
whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering.
Stewart.
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.
Therefore, leaving the
principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.
Heb. vi. 1.
A good
principle
, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad.
Milton.
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
.
All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest
principle
of mind.
Law.
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.
Cathartine is the bitter, purgative
principle
of senna.
Gregory.
Bitter principle
,
Principle of contradiction
,
etc. See under
Bitter
,
Contradiction
, etc.

Prin′ci-ple

,
Verb.
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.
Governors should be well
principled
.
L'Estrange.
Let an enthusiast be
principled
that he or his teacher is inspired.
Locke.

Webster 1828 Edition

Principle

PRIN'CIPLE

,
Noun.
[L. principium, beginning.]
1.
In a general sense, the cause, source or origin of any thing; that from which a thing proceeds; as the principle of motion; the principles of action.
2.
Element; constituent part; primordial substance.
Modern philosophers suppose matter to be one simple principle, or solid extension diversified by its various shapes.
3.
Being that produces any thing; operative cause.
The soul of man is an active principle.
4.
In science, a truth admitted either without proof, or considered as having been before proved. In the former sense, it is synonymous with axiom; in the latter, with the phrase, established principle.
5.
Ground; foundation; that which supports an assertion, an action, or a series of actions or of reasoning. On what principle can this be affirmed or denied? He justifies his proceedings on the principle of expedience or necessity. He reasons on sound principles.
6.
A general truth; a law comprehending many subordinate truths; as the principles of morality, of law, of government, &c.
7.
Tenet; that which is believed, whether truth or not, but which serves as a rule of action or the basis of a system; as the principles of the Stoics, or of the Epicureans.
8.
A principle of human nature, is a law of action in human beings; a constitutional propensity common to the human species. Thus it is a principle of human nature to resent injuries and repel insults.

PRIN'CIPLE

,
Verb.
T.
To establish or fix in tenets; to impress with any tenet, good or ill; chiefly used in the participle.
Men have been principled with an opinion, that they must not consult reason in things of religion.
1.
To establish firmly in the mind.

Definition 2024

principle

principle

English

Noun

principle ‎(plural principles)

  1. A fundamental assumption or guiding belief.
    • 2011 July 20, Edwin Mares, “Propositional Functions”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, retrieved 2012-07-15:
      Let us consider ‘my dog is asleep on the floor’ again. Frege thinks that this sentence can be analyzed in various different ways. Instead of treating it as expressing the application of __ is asleep on the floor to my dog, we can think of it as expressing the application of the concept
           my dog is asleep on __
      to the object
           the floor
      (see Frege 1919). Frege recognizes what is now a commonplace in the logical analysis of natural language. We can attribute more than one logical form to a single sentence. Let us call this the principle of multiple analyses. Frege does not claim that the principle always holds, but as we shall see, modern type theory does claim this.
    We need some sort of principles to reason from.‎
  2. A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.
    The principle of least privilege holds that a process should only receive the permissions it needs.‎
  3. (sometimes pluralized) Moral rule or aspect.
    I don't doubt your principles.
    You are clearly a person of principle.
    It's the principle of the thing; I won't do business with someone I can't trust.
  4. (physics) A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
    • 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
      Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.
    Bernoulli's Principle
    The Pauli Exclusion Principle prevents two fermions from occupying the same state.
    The principle of the internal combustion engine
  5. A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
    • Gregory
      Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna.
    Many believe that life is the result of some vital principle.‎
  6. (obsolete) A beginning.
  7. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
    • Tillotson
      The soul of man is an active principle.
  8. An original faculty or endowment.
    • Stewart
      those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering

Usage notes

  • Principle ("moral rule"), as a noun, is often confused with principal, which can be an adjective ("most important") or a noun ("school principal"). A memory aid to avoid this confusion is: "The principal alphabetic principle places A before E".

Synonyms

  • (moral rule or aspect): tenet

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

principle ‎(third-person singular simple present principles, present participle principling, simple past and past participle principled)

  1. (transitive) To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct.
    • L'Estrange
      Governors should be well principled.
    • Locke
      Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired.

External links

  • principle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • principle in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology

From Old French principe, from Latin principium ‎(“beginning, foundation”), from princeps ‎(“first”); see prince.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈprɪnsɪpəl/, /ˈprɪnsəpəl/
  • Hyphenation: prin‧ci‧ple
  • Homophone: principal

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