| English Dictionary |
PRINCIPAL
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Dictionary entry overview: What does principal mean?
• PRINCIPAL (noun)
The noun PRINCIPAL has 6 senses:
1. the original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated
2. the educator who has executive authority for a school
3. an actor who plays a principal role
4. capital as contrasted with the income derived from it
5. (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement
6. the major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account
Familiarity information: PRINCIPAL used as a noun is common.
• PRINCIPAL (adjective)
The adjective PRINCIPAL has 1 sense:
1. most important element
Familiarity information: PRINCIPAL used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated
Classified under:
Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession
Hypernyms ("principal" is a kind of...):
debt (money or goods or services owed by one person to another)
Holonyms ("principal" is a part of...):
loan (the temporary provision of money (usually at interest))
Sense 2
Meaning:
The educator who has executive authority for a school
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
head; head teacher; principal; school principal
Context example:
she sent unruly pupils to see the principal
Hypernyms ("principal" is a kind of...):
educator; pedagog; pedagogue (someone who educates young people)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "principal"):
chancellor (the honorary or titular head of a university)
headmaster; master; schoolmaster (presiding officer of a school)
headmistress (a woman headmaster)
Derivation:
principalship (the post of principal)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An actor who plays a principal role
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Hypernyms ("principal" is a kind of...):
actor; histrion; player; role player; thespian (a theatrical performer)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "principal"):
co-star (one of two actors who are given equal status as stars in a play or film)
film star; movie star (a star who plays leading roles in the cinema)
idol; matinee idol (someone who is adored blindly and excessively)
television star; TV star (a star in a television show)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Capital as contrasted with the income derived from it
Classified under:
Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession
Synonyms:
corpus; principal; principal sum
Hypernyms ("principal" is a kind of...):
capital (wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("principal" is a kind of...):
offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)
Domain category:
criminal law (the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "principal"):
criminal; crook; felon; malefactor; outlaw (someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime)
Sense 6
Meaning:
The major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
dealer; principal
Hypernyms ("principal" is a kind of...):
financier; moneyman (a person skilled in large scale financial transactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "principal"):
broker-dealer (a financial specialist who trades for his own account and so acts both as a broker and principal)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Most important element
Synonyms:
chief; main; master; primary; principal
Context example:
a master switch
Similar:
Context examples
A tall tree was thus the principal mark.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
In mammals, the JAK/STAT pathway is the principal signaling mechanism for a wide array of cytokines and growth factors.
(Jak-STAT Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)
The principal activity that a person does to earn money.
(Occupation, NCI Thesaurus)
One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my liberty, Reldresal, principal secretary (as they style him) for private affairs, came to my house attended only by one servant.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
It is impossible for you to diminish your principal.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
The Federal Government's principal agency for cancer research.
(National Cancer Institute, NCI Thesaurus)
A broad class of substances, principally from mineral sources of non-biological origin, encompassing all those that do not include carbon and its derivatives as their principal elements.
(Inorganic Chemical, NCI Thesaurus)
She is his principal correspondent, I assure you.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The principals being all agreed in this respect, it soon appeared that a very few weeks would be sufficient for such arrangements as must precede the wedding.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Miss Elliot, surrounded by her cousins, and the principal object of Colonel Wallis's gallantry, was quite contented.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"If a child does not cry, his mother will not breast feed him." (Albanian proverb)
"While they read the Bible to the wolf, it says: hurry up, my flock left." (Armenian proverb)
"If a caged bird isn't singing for love, it's singing in a rage." (Corsican proverb)