l]
| 1. | an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct: a person of good moral principles. |
| 2. | a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived: the principles of modern physics. |
| 3. | a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion: the principles of the Stoics. |
| 4. | principles, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management: to adhere to one's principles; a kindergarten run on modern principles. |
| 5. | guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct: a person of principle. |
| 6. | an adopted rule or method for application in action: a working principle for general use. |
| 7. | a rule or law exemplified in natural phenomena, the construction or operation of a machine, the working of a system, or the like: the principle of capillary attraction. |
| 8. | the method of formation, operation, or procedure exhibited in a given case: a community organized on the patriarchal principle. |
| 9. | a determining characteristic of something; essential quality. |
| 10. | an originating or actuating agency or force: growth is the principle of life. |
| 11. | an actuating agency in the mind or character, as an instinct, faculty, or natural tendency: the principles of human behavior. |
| 12. | Chemistry. a constituent of a substance, esp. one giving to it some distinctive quality or effect. |
| 13. | Obsolete. beginning or commencement. |
| 14. | in principle, in essence or substance; fundamentally: to accept a plan in principle. |
| 15. | on principle,
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prin·ci·ple (prĭn'sə-pəl) n.
[Middle English, alteration of Old French principe, from Latin prīncipium, from prīnceps, prīncip-, leader, emperor; see per1 in Indo-European roots.] |
"It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them." [Adlai Stevenson, speech, New York City, Aug. 27, 1952]Hence principled "moral" (1697). Scientific sense of "general law of nature" is recorded from 1802.
principle prin·ci·ple (prĭn'sə-pəl)
n.
A basic truth, law, or assumption.
A rule or law concerning the functioning of natural phenomena or mechanical processes.
One of the elements composing a chemical compound, especially one that gives some special quality or effect.
The essential ingredient in a drug.