Principle
['prɪnsɪp(ə)l] or ['prɪnsəpl]
Definition
(noun.) a basic truth or law or assumption; 'the principles of democracy'.
(noun.) a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system; 'the principle of the conservation of mass'; 'the principle of jet propulsion'; 'the right-hand rule for inductive fields'.
(noun.) a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct; 'their principles of composition characterized all their works'.
(noun.) a rule or standard especially of good behavior; 'a man of principle'; 'he will not violate his principles'.
(noun.) rule of personal conduct.
Inputed by Ezra--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Beginning; commencement.
(n.) A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
(n.) An original faculty or endowment.
(n.) A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.
(n.) A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle.
(n.) Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc.
(v. t.) To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill.
Editor: Maynard
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Origin, source, cause, spring, mainspring, fountain, groundwork, prime mover, fountain-head.[2]. Element, substratum, fundamental or primordial substance.[3]. Postulate, axiom, law, elementary proposition, fundamental truth.[4]. Doctrine, tenet, dogma, opinion, maxim, rule.[5]. Ground, motive, reason.[6]. Integrity, uprightness, rectitude, probity, honesty, virtue, righteousness, incorruptibility, goodness, trustworthiness, trustiness, worth, honor.
Editor: Rosalie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Source, origin, motive, cause, energy, substance, element, power, faculty,truth, tenet, law, doctrine, axiom, maxim, postulate, rule
ANT:Exhibition, manifestation, application, development, issue, exercise,operation, formation, action
Checker: Stan
Definition
n. a fundamental truth on which others are founded or from which they spring: a law or doctrine from which others are derived: an original faculty of the mind: a settled rule of action: (chem.) a constituent part: (obs.) a beginning.—v.t. to establish in principles: to impress with a doctrine.—adj. Prin′cipled holding certain principles.—Principle of contradiction the logical principle that a thing cannot both be and not be; Principle of excluded middle (logic) the principle that a thing must be either one thing or its contradictory; Principle of sufficient reason (see Reason).—First principle a very general principle not deducible from others.
Checked by Gerald
Examples
- Reason is wholly inactive, and can never be the source of so active a principle as conscience, or a sense of morals. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- This principle we derive from experience, and is the source of most of our philosophical reasonings. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Thus it appears, that the principle, which opposes our passion, cannot be the same with reason, and is only called so in an improper sense. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- For these all follow the general principle, and having found that, we shall have no difficulty in discovering them. Plato. The Republic.
- The same principle has application on the side of the considerations which concern the relations of one nation to another. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The use of a megaphone or speaking trumpet for conveying the sound of the voice to a distance is based on the same principle. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Its great interest for the history of thought lies in the fact that it is the result of seeking the constant in the variable, the unitary principle in the multiple phenomena of nature. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- This is what one gets by acting with principle. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The first principle which runs through all art and nature is simplicity; this also is to be the rule of human life. Plato. The Republic.
- That bridge, though of different material, was in its principle of construction similar to the iron tubular bridges at Conway and at the Menai Straits. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- It is the principle of the fox. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Now, things are wholly changed, and almost every naturalist admits the great principle of evolution. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- As for Betteredge, consistency of principle and dignity of conduct had become, in his case, mere empty words. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The principle of the air brake is to store up compressed air in a reservoir on the locomotive by means of a steam pump. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- He's a pleasant wretch, but he wants principle. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Under such high patronage most of the ideas and principles of ordnance now prevailing were discovered or suggested, but were embodied for the most part in rude and inefficient contrivances. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- But Huygens, the great Dutch scientist, about 1556 was the first to explain the principles and properties of the pendulum as a time measurer and to apply it most successfully to clocks. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- No one expects the young to make original discoveries of just the same facts and principles as are embodied in the sciences of nature and man. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- These fundamental principles have since been adopted and incorporated in their laws by all the nations of the earth. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The curse is laid upon them of being and doing what it approves, and when they attempt first principles the failure is ludicrous. Plato. The Republic.
- Nor is it less infallible, because men cannot distinctly explain the principles, on which it is founded. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- If it be analogous, we may hope to explain its causes from analogy, and trace it up to more general principles. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- How then shall we adjust those principles together? David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- I began to feel the force of Mr. John Hobson's remark that if practical workers for social and industrial reforms continue to ignore principles . Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But women, as you may have observed, have no principles. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- These principles I allow to be neither the infallible nor the sole causes of an union among ideas. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- I am afraid your principles on some points are eccentric. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- It was not so unlike her father's principles, and her early training, that it need startle her. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- The originality of his principles, his eloquence, and his great physical strength and beauty created a profound sensation. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The whole system, therefore, is entirely incomprehensible, and yet is derived from principles as natural as any of these above-explained. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
Typist: Owen