principle
/ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.34 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief.
noun
A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
noun
A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
noun
A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
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."
Etymology
From Middle English principle, from Old French principe, from Latin prīncipium (“beginning, foundation”), from prīnceps (“first”). By surface analysis, prīmus (“first”) + -ceps (“catcher”); the former ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before”); see also prince.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/
- British English: /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/