Meaning of principle in English

principle

noun

/ˈprɪn.sə.pəl/ us

/ˈprɪn.sə.pəl/

principle noun (IDEA)

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C1 [ C ]

a basic idea or rule that explains or controls how something happens or works:

the principles of the criminal justice system

The country is run on socialist principles.

The machine works according to the principle of electromagnetic conduction.

The organization works on the principle that all members have the same rights.

Synonyms

basics
essential 
foundation (BASIC FACT)
fundamentals
the rudiments

See also

first principles UK

in principle

If you agree with or believe something in principle, you agree with the idea in general, although you might not support it in reality or in every situation:

In principle I agree with the idea, but in practice it's not always possible.

More examplesFewer examples

The school is based on the fundamental principle that each child should develop its full potential.
The government has promised to uphold the principles of democracy.
In the 1870s and 1880s, doctors began to follow the principles of antiseptic surgery.
The party's principles are basically egalitarian.
Johnson calls this phenomenon 'the principle of minimal effort'.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Ideas, concepts and theories

See more results »

principle noun (RULE)

C2 [ C or U ] approving

a moral rule or standard of good behaviour:

She doesn't have any principles.

He was a man of principle.

Anyway, I can't deceive him - it's against all my principles.

I never gamble, as a matter of principle (= because I believe it is wrong).

She'd never ask to borrow money, on principle.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Morality and rules of behaviour

See more results »

Grammar

Principal or principle?

Principal as an adjective means ‘most important’: …

(Definition of principle from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

principle | American Dictionary

principle

noun

/ˈprɪn·sə·pəl/

principle noun (MORAL RULE)

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[ C/U ]

a moral rule or standard of good behavior or fair dealing:

[ C ] His guiding principle is that everyone should have equal access to high-quality health care.

[ C ] He refused to compromise his principles.

on principle

If you believe or act on principle, you are following a personal standard of behavior:

On principle, I never eat meat.

principle noun (BASIC TRUTH)

[ C often pl ]

a basic truth that explains or controls how something happens or works:

the principles of Newtonian physics

in principle

Someone who agrees to something in principle agrees with the idea, but may not agree with using the idea to bring about practical changes:

In principle I agree that mothers should spend as much time as possible with their young children, but it isn’t easy.

(Definition of principle from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

principle | Business English

principle

noun

/ˈprɪnsəpl/ us

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[ C ]

a basic idea or rule that explains or controls how something happens or works:

a principle of sth Those who paid the most would be earning the most: it's a pretty basic principle of fair taxation.

basic/fundamental/general principle The general principles of project management are much the same in the two cases.

on the principle that The organization works on the principle that all members have the same rights.

The country is run on socialist principles.

[ C or U ]

a moral rule or standard of good behaviour:

I never cheat a customer, as a matter of principle.

She'd never ask to borrow money, on principle.

in principle

if you agree with or believe something in principle, you agree with the idea in general, although you might not agree with all the details or support it in every situation:

In principle, we support the merger, but we think the value is insufficient.

The EU may also move to implement a ban on new investment, previously agreed in principle.

if something should happen in principle, it should happen in theory although it does not in fact always happen or has not yet happened:

In principle, bonuses ought to fall when conditions get tough. In practice, they don't.

Examples of principle

principle

Alternatively, one can propose a general licensing principle that permits such violations at that level.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

That principle, to recall, said that an agent should per form those actions demanded by plans it was optimal to adopt.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He thus sought to rehabilitate the doctrine of five principles for his project of philosophical chemistry by providing them with a corpuscular ontology.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The philosophical concept of dependent moral status thus makes a crucial appeal to the ethical principle of beneficence.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But was this exclusion based on philosophical principle or on the contingent state of science?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The other two principles, the historical and etymological ones, only supplement the phonetic principle, but do not replace it.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Psychological inquiry into human prejudice processes also benefits from adaptationist principles.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It reinforces a basic principle of historical research.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Psychologists risk a similar confusion in formulating principles taken to govern mental representations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For example, the parties can, in principle, always settle out of court.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The probabilistic model ranks documents according to their probability of being relevant to a query - the ordering principle.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In addition, both sets of principles agree upon how these pairs are ranked.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As a matter of principle, it was the spouses who were supposed to bring forward the witnesses to their nuptials.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The concept of the tachyon does not violate the principles of special relativity, and they are quite a simple theoretical construct.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These phases could have been used as an organising principle for the themes of the seminars.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with principle

principle

These are words often used in combination with principle.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

absolute principle

I repeat that there is no absolute principle involved.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

abstract principle

Therefore, obligations to help parents do not exist as an abstract principle of firmly established norms, but are created concretely through interaction over time.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

accepted principle

It is also becoming a more commonly accepted principle in international arenas.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with principle

What is the pronunciation of principle?

Translations of principle

in Chinese (Traditional)

基本思想, 原理, 原則…

in Chinese (Simplified)

基本思想, 原理, 原则…

in Spanish

principio, principio [masculine, singular]…

in Portuguese

princípio, princípio [masculine]…

in more languages

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in Italian

तत्व…

道義, 主義, 信条…

ilke, prensip, genel kural ve uygulamalar…

principe [masculine], principe…

principi…

beginsel, principe…

ஒன்று எவ்வாறு நிகழ்கிறது அல்லது செயல்படுகிறது என்பதை விளக்கும் அல்லது கட்டுப்படுத்தும் ஒரு அடிப்படை யோசனை அல்லது விதி, ஒரு தார்மீக விதி அல்லது நல்ல நடத்தையின் தரநிலை…

नियम, सिद्धांत, नैतिकता…

સિધ્ધાંત, નિયમ…

princip, læresætning…

princip, grundsats, lag…

prinsip…

das Gesetz, die Grundregel…