Meaning

A fundamental assumption or guiding belief..

Definitions by Sense

1. A fundamental assumption or guiding belief.
2. A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.
3. (sometimes pluralized) Moral rule or aspect.
4. (physics) A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
5. A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
6. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
7. An original faculty or endowment.
8. Misspelling of principal.

Example Sentences

We need some sort of principles to reason from.

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.

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

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.

I don't doubt your principles.

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.

Word Forms

• principles
• principling
• principled

Synonyms for principle

Related Words

When Should You Use Principle?

Use principle when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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