Definitions for Principal
ˈprɪn sə pəlPrin·ci·pal

Princeton's WordNet(3.57 / 7 votes)Rate this definition:

1. principalnoun

   the original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated

2. principal, school principal, head teacher, headnoun

   the educator who has executive authority for a school

   "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal"

3. star, principal, leadnoun

   an actor who plays a principal role

4. principal, corpus, principal sumnoun

   capital as contrasted with the income derived from it

5. principalnoun

   (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement

6. principal, dealeradjective

   the major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account

7. chief(a), main(a), primary(a), principal(a), master(a)adjective

   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"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. principalnoun

   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.

2. principalnoun

   The chief administrator of a school.

3. principalnoun

   The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.

4. principalnoun

   One who directs another (the agent) to act on ones behalf.

   When an attorney represents a client, the client is the principal who permits the attorney, the clients agent, to act on the clients behalf.

5. principalnoun

   The primary participant in a crime.

6. principalnoun

   A company represented by a salesperson.

   My principal sells metal shims.

7. principalnoun

   A partner or owner of a business.

8. principalnoun

   A diapason, a type of organ stop on a pipe organ.

9. principaladjective

   Primary; most important.

10. Etymology: From principalis.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Principaladjective

   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. Principaladjective

   of or pertaining to a prince; princely

3. Principalnoun

   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. Principalnoun

   the chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory

5. Principalnoun

   a chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety

6. Principalnoun

   one who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent

7. Principalnoun

   a thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous

8. Principalnoun

   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. Principalnoun

   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. Principalnoun

    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. Principalnoun

    a heirloom; a mortuary

12. Principalnoun

    the first two long feathers of a hawk's wing

13. Principalnoun

    one of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned

14. Principalnoun

    a principal or essential point or rule; a principle

15. Etymology: [F., from L. principalis. See Prince.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Principal

   A principal in computer security is an entity that can be authenticated by a computer system or network. It is referred to as a security principal in Java and Microsoft literature. Principals can be individual people, computers, services, computational entities such as processes and threads, or any group of such things. They need to be identified and authenticated before they can be assigned rights and privileges over resources in the network. A principal typically has an associated identifier that allows it to be referenced for identification or assignment of properties and permissions.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Principal

   prin′si-pal, adj. taking the first place: highest in rank, character, or importance: chief.—n. a principal person or thing: a head, as of a school or college: one who takes a leading part: money on which interest is paid: (archit.) a main beam or timber: (law) the person who commits a crime, or one who aids and abets him in doing it: a person for whom another becomes surety, a person who, being sui juris, employs another to do an act which he is competent himself to do: (mus.) an organ-stop: (Shak.) the principal rafter.—n. Principal′ity, supreme power: the territory of a prince or the country which gives title to him: (B.) a prince: (obs.) a power: (pl.) an order of angels, the seventh in the hierarchy of Dionysius.—adv. Prin′cipally.—ns. Prin′cipalness, the state of being principal or chief; Prin′cipalship, position of a principal; Prin′cipate, primary: a principality, esp. the office of the ancient Roman emperors. [L. principalis.]

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. principal

   A person with the accurate and specific ability, experience, knowledge, skills, qualifications, training and expertise to manage, review and support an education facility, school or college and teachers or tutors where appropriate and their collective responsibilities and objectives.

   The principal of the school was a true leader and managed a united team to deliver for the shared prosperity of everyone.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 1, 2020  

2. principal

   An important element.

   The principal element of the computer is the main memory which has a primary function within the computer.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 1, 2020  

Matched Categories

1. • Actor
   • Capital
   • Criminal Law
   • Debt
   • Wrongdoer

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Principal' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2488

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Principal' in Nouns Frequency: #2743

3. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Principal' in Adjectives Frequency: #337

How to pronounce Principal?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Principal in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Principal in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Principal in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of Principal in a Sentence

1. Bill Gross:

   The reason nominal growth is critical is that it allows a country, company or individual to service their debts with increasing income, allocating a portion to interest expense and another portion to theoretical or practical principal repayment via a sinking fund, without the latter, a credit-based economy ultimately -devolves into Ponzi finance, and at some point implodes. Watch nominal GDP growth.

2. Vicente Lim:

   The principal defect of our national defense is not the training nor the lack of finances, but the great and dangerous defect of democracy which has been implanted into the minds of the Filipino people. We have a nationally wrong conception of democracy. Our democracy in the Philippines is unilateral. It is only for the benefit, for the freedom, for the rights, comfort and happiness of each individual member of the nation. That is the common belief, and I venture to say that 99.9% of our people believe in that kind of democracy. They do not know their obligations, their duties and the sacrifices that they should give to the state which is the relative counterpart of the amount of personal democracy he should indulge. The two should balance.

3. Mitch McConnell:

   Regretfully the bipartisanship is not on display this year, and the principal reason for that is I think what the new administration and the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate are doing are wildly out of proportion to what we need at this particular juncture.

4. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence:

   All of Indiana mourns the loss of Principal Susan Jordan, our hearts ache for her family, the school community and for all the children who were fortunate enough to be part of her world. Hoosiers will never forget that Principal Jordan lived the life of a hero and can always be grateful for her service and courage.

5. Edwin Ivanauskas:

   What goes toward the principal is $200 more a month.

Popularity rank by frequency of use