Dictionary Definition
principal adj : most important element; "the
chief aim of living"; "the main doors were of solid glass"; "the
principal rivers of America"; "the principal example"; "policemen
were primary targets" [syn: chief(a), main(a), primary(a),
principal(a)]
Noun
1 the original amount of a debt on which interest
is calculated
2 the educator who has executive authority for a
school; "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal" [syn:
school
principal, head
teacher, head]
4 capital as contrasted with the income derived
from it [syn: corpus,
principal
sum]
5 the major party to a financial transaction at a
stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account [syn: dealer]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
Adjective
- Primary; most important in a group.
- Smith is the principal architect of this design.
- The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.
- Smith is the principal architect of this design.
Usage notes
- Not to be confused with principle.
This is generally not used in the comparative or
superlative in formal writing, as the meaning is already
superlative. However, one may occasionally see, e.g., more
principal meaning more likely to be principal or more nearly
principal. There are similar issues with unique.
The confused may care to remember that 'The
principal alphabetic principle places A before E' as a reminder of
the relative spelling.
Translations
primary, main
- Arabic:
- Chinese: 主要的 (zhǔyào de)
- Dutch: voornaamste
- Finnish: pää-
- French: principal
- German: hauptsächlich
- Hungarian: fő
- Italian: principale
- Japanese: 主要な (しゅような, shuyōna)
- Korean: 주요한 (juyohan)
- Polish: podstawowy
- Portuguese: principal
- Romanian: principal
- Russian: основной (osnovnój)
- Spanish: principal
- Swedish: huvudsaklig
Noun
- In the context of "finance|uncountable": 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.
- The principal administrator of a school.
- Now you're in trouble! You're going to see the principal for that.
- A company you represent in as a sales person.
- One of my principals sells metal shims. I can get those for you.
Translations
The money originally invested or loaned
- Polish: kapitał
The principal administrator of a school
- Chinese: 校長, 校长 (xiàozhǎng)
- Dutch: schoolhoofd, rector
- Finnish: rehtori
- French:
- German: Schulvorsteher
- Hebrew: ,
- Japanese: 学校長 (gakkōchō)
- Korean: 학교 교장 (hakgyo gyojang)
- Latin:
- Modern: administrator
principalis
- Classical: rector scholaris nominative, rectoris scholaris genitive
- Modern: administrator
principalis
- Russian: директор школы (diréktor škóly)
- Spanish: director, principal de escuela, jefe de estudios
A company you represent in as a sales person
See also
French
Antonyms
Spanish
Extensive Definition
distinguish principle
Principal may refer to:
Education
The head of an educational institution:- Principal (school), head of a primary or secondary school
- Principal
(university), chief executive of a university
- Dean (education), a person with significant authority
- Provost (education), chief academic officer of a university
- Chancellor (education), the head of a university
Law
- Principal (commercial law), a person who authorises an agent to act to create a legal relationship with a third party
- Principal (criminal law), one (or more) primary actor(s) in a criminal offense for which other actors may be criminally liable as accomplices, accessories or conspirators
Other uses
- Principal sum, the original amount of a debt or investment on which interest is calculated
- Organ stop on a pipe organ
- A musician in an orchestra who either plays the first part (wind instruments), or who sits in the first chair and leads a section (of string instruments) in playing the same part
- A performer in an opera or musical who takes a more or less prominent part in the action, and sings solo or in small ensembles
- Principal ideal, in ring theory in mathematics, an ideal with a single generator
- Principal (Civil Service) or Principal Officer, a senior management grade (now grade 7) in the British Civil Service and the Irish Civil Service
- A security principal is an entity that can be positively identified and verified via a technique known as Authentication
- Principal, Cape Verde, a village
- Principal Financial Group, a life insurance company traded on the NYSE
principal in German: Prinzipal
principal in Simple English:
Principal
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
A per se, English horn, academic dean, ace, administration, administrator,
all-absorbing, arch,
assets, backing, banner, bassoon, block flute, bombard, boss, bourdon, capital, capital gains
distribution, capital structure, capitalization, cardinal, cash reserves,
cello, central, chairman, champion, chancellor, chief, chief executive officer,
circulating capital, claribel, clarinet, clarion, commander, concert flute,
controlling,
cornet, cornopean, corpus, cromorna, crowning, cymbel, danseur noble, dean, dean of men, dean of women,
diapason, director, diva, dominant, doyen, doyenne, dulciana, electronics king,
equity capital, feature attraction, first, first tragedian, fixed
capital, floating capital, flute stop, focal, foremost, foundation stop,
fourniture, front, fugleman, fund, gamba, gedeckt, gemshorn, genius, great, harmonic flute, head, headliner, headmaster, headmistress, headmost, heavy lead, hegemonic, hero, heroine, high priest, higher-up,
highest, honcho, hybrid stop, important, important person,
investment, jeune
premier, key, king, kingfish, kingpin, koppel flute, larigot, laureate, lead, leader, leading, leading lady, leading
light, leading man, luminary, magisterial, maiden, main, major, managing director, master, master spirit, melodia, mixture, money, moneyed capital, mutation
stop, nazard, nonpareil, oboe, octave, organ stop, outstanding, overriding, overruling, owner, paragon, paramount, personage, piccolo, plein jeu, posaune, predominant, preeminent, premier, preponderant, president, prevailing, prima ballerina,
prima donna, primal,
primary, prime, prodigy, prominent, proprietor, protagonist, provost, quint, quintaten, rank, ranket, ranking, rector, reed stop, register, resources, rohr flute,
ruler, ruling, senior, sesquialtera, shawm, singer, sovereign, spitz flute,
star, starring, stellar, stop, stopped diapason, stopped
flute, string diapason, string stop, supereminent, superintendent, superior, superman, superstar, supervisor, supreme, the greatest, the most,
tierce, top dog, topflight, topmost, tremolo, trombone, trumpet, twelfth, unda maris, uppermost, venture capital,
vibrato,
vice-chancellor, viola,
virtuoso, voix celeste,
vox angelica, vox humana, working capital