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
“Well, I’ll be Elaine,” said Anne, yielding reluctantly, for, although she would have been delighted to play the principal character, yet her artistic sense demanded fitness for it and this, she felt, her limitations made impossible.
They returned, therefore, in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they were the principal inhabitants.
He did look at it, and into it, for half an hour; was pleased with the situation and the principal rooms, satisfied with what the owner said in its praise, and took it immediately.
Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room: he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield.
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.