Thesaurus: principle

Related headwords

Definitions

1. n. Beginning; commencement.
2. n. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
3. n. An original faculty or endowment.
4. n. A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.
5. n. A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle.
6. n. Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc.
7. v. t. To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill.
8. n. a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct
9. n. a rule or standard especially of good behavior
10. n. a basic truth or law or assumption
11. n. a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system
12. n. rule of personal conduct