1. (noun)principal the original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated
2. (noun)principal, school principal, head teacher, head the educator who has executive authority for a school "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal"
3. (noun)star, principal, lead an actor who plays a principal role
4. (noun)principal, corpus, principal sum capital as contrasted with the income derived from it
5. (noun)principal (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement
6. (adj)principal, dealer the major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account
7. (adj)chief(a), main(a), primary(a), principal(a), master(a) 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"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch"
Definitions of 'principal'
Webster 1913 Dictionary
1. (adj)principal highest in rank, authority, character, importance, or degree; most considerable or important; chief; main; as, the principal officers of a Government; the principal men of a state; the principal productions of a country; the principal arguments in a case
2. (adj)principal of or pertaining to a prince; princely
3. (noun)principal a leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant
4. (noun)principal the chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory
5. (noun)principal a chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety
6. (noun)principal one who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent
7. (noun)principal a thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous
8. (noun)principal a capital sum of money, placed out at interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; -- so called in distinction from interest or profit
9. (noun)principal the construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, -- generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. Also, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing
10. (noun)principal in English organs the chief open metallic stop, an octave above the open diapason. On the manual it is four feet long, on the pedal eight feet. In Germany this term corresponds to the English open diapason
11. (noun)principal a heirloom; a mortuary
12. (noun)principal the first two long feathers of a hawk's wing
13. (noun)principal one of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned
14. (noun)principal a principal or essential point or rule; a principle
Definition of principal 
