principle

plural principles

1. A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief.

   We need some sort of principles to reason from.

   1 more example

   Let us consider ‘my dog is asleep on the floor’ again. Frege thinks that this sentence can be analyzed in various different ways. Instead of treating it as expressing the application of __ is asleep on the floor to my dog, we can think of it as expressing the application of the concept my dog is asleep on __ to the object the floor (see Frege 1919). Frege recognizes what is now a commonplace in the logical analysis of natural language. We can attribute more than one logical form to a single sentence. Let us call this the principle of multiple analyses. Frege does not claim that the principle always holds, but as we shall see, modern type theory does claim this.

   2011 July 20, Edwin Mares, “Propositional Functions”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, archived from the original on 15 Dec 2012

   Synonyms: premise

2. A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.

   The principle of least privilege holds that a process should only receive the permissions it needs.

   1 more example

   Mr. Genachowski proposed codifying the new principles with four existing principles issued several years ago by the F.C.C. They say that network operators cannot prevent users from accessing lawful Internet content, applications and services of their choice, nor can they prohibit users from attaching nonharmful devices to the network.

   2009 September 22, Reuters, “F.C.C. Calls Open Internet Rules Vital”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2020

3. sometimes pluralizedMoral rule or aspect.

   I don't doubt your principles.

   3 more examples

   You are clearly a person of principle.

   It's the principle of the thing; I won't do business with someone I can't trust.

   Lavinia—shrewd, careless, clever; ready to meet any difficulty, however humiliating, that might occur; utterly without principle; confident in that good fortune, which she scrupled at no means of attaining—was the very type of the real.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Author and the Actress”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 105

   Synonyms: tenet, value

4. natural sciencesA rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.

   Bernoulli's principle

   3 more examples

   The Pauli Exclusion Principle prevents two fermions from occupying the same state.

   The principle of the internal combustion engine

   Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.

   2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4

5. A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.

   Many believe that life is the result of some vital principle.

   1. A chemical compound within plant or animal tissue that is characteristic of it and more or less peculiar to it, such that it defines the character of that tissue from a human viewpoint (as for example nicotine in tobacco).

      the active principle

      1 more example

      Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna.

      1845, William Gregory, Outlines of Chemistry

6. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.

   The soul of man is an active principle.

   1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], London: […] B. Aylmer, […]; [a]nd W. Rogers, […], published 1696, →OCLC

7. An original faculty or endowment.

   those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering

   1828, Dugald Stewart, The Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers of Man

8. misspellingMisspelling of principal.
9. obsoleteA beginning.

   Doubting sad end of principle unsound.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 2

present singular third person principles · participle present principling · participle past principled · past principled

1. transitiveTo equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct.

   Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired.

   1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 4, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 20