principal
/ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/ noun B2- 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.· Coordinate term: interest
- A legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a negotiorum gestio acts. · My principal sells metal shims.
- The primary participant in a crime.
- Either party in a duel.
- A partner or owner of a business.
- A type of stop on a pipe organ consisting of flue pipes with a bright tonal quality. They are also sometimes referred to as a diapason.
- The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
- The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.
Plural principals
From the library
The picture gallery, and two or three of the principal bed-rooms, were all that remained to be shown.
“The principal difficulty in your case,” remarked Holmes, in his didactic fashion, “lay in the fact of there being too much evidence.
The principal charge against you is this letter, and you see——” Villefort approached the fire, cast it in, and waited until it was entirely consumed.
The apartment destined for the purpose was spacious and lighted by a number of windows, over each of which was written in golden letters for some inexplicable reason the name of one of the principal cities of France; beneath these windows a wooden balcony extended the entire length of the house.
Other matches
Learn principal in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.