Principle

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: Prin=ci=ple

CIDE DICTIONARY

Principle, n. [F. principe, L. principium beginning, foundation, fr. princeps, -cipis. See Prince.].

•  Beginning; commencement.  [1913 Webster]

  "Doubting sad end of principle unsound."  [1913 Webster]
•  A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.  [1913 Webster]

  "The soul of man is an active principle."  [1913 Webster]
•  An original faculty or endowment.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nature in your principles hath set [benignity]."  [1913 Webster]

  "Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection."  [1913 Webster]

  "A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna."  [1913 Webster]

Bitter principle, Principle of contradiction, etc. See under Bitter, Contradiction, etc.

Principle, 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.  [1913 Webster]
"Governors should be well principled."  [1913 Webster]
"Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Principle, n.
1 a fundamental truth or law as the basis of reasoning or action (arguing from first principles; moral principles).
2 a a personal code of conduct (a person of high principle). b (in pl.) such rules of conduct (has no principles).
3 a general law in physics etc. (the uncertainty principle).
4 a law of nature forming the basis for the construction or working of a machine etc.
5 a fundamental source; a primary element (held water to be the first principle of all things).
6 Chem. a constituent of a substance, esp. one giving rise to some quality, etc.

Idiom

in principle as regards fundamentals but not necessarily in detail. on principle on the basis of a moral attitude (I refuse on principle).

Etymology

ME f. OF principe f. L principium source, (in pl.) foundations (as PRINCE)

THESAURUS

Principle

Procrustean law, a belief, a priori truth, activity, ambition, antecedents, article of faith, aspiration, at bottom, attitude, axiom, base, basement, basically, basis, bearing wall, bed, bedding, bedrock, belief, brocard, call, calling, campaign, canon, causation, cause, cause and effect, center, code, commandment, commitment, conscience, consideration, convention, core, credo, creed, criterion, crusade, determinant, determinative, dictate, dictum, doctrine, dogma, drive, element, elements, elixir, essence, essential, essentially, ethic, etiology, factor, faith, floor, flooring, flower, focus, fond, footing, form, formality, formula, formulary, foundation, fundament, fundamental, fundamentally, fundamentals, general principle, gist, given, goal, golden rule, grammar, gravamen, great cause, ground, grounds, groundwork, guide, guideline, guiding light, guiding principle, guiding star, hardpan, heart, honesty, hypostasis, idea, ideal, ideally, imperative, in essence, in theory, inner essence, inspiration, integrity, intention, interest, issue, kernel, law, law of nature, lifework, lodestar, mainspring, marrow, mass movement, matter, maxim, meat, mitzvah, model, moral, morality, morals, motive, movement, norm, norma, notion, nub, nucleus, nuts and bolts, occasion, order of nature, ordinance, pavement, philosophy, pith, point of view, postulate, precept, prescribed form, prescription, principium, principles, probity, proposition, quid, quiddity, quintessence, radical, reason, reason for being, regulation, riprap, rock bottom, rubric, rudiment, rudiments, rule, sake, sap, score, seat, self-evident truth, sentiment, set form, settled principle, sill, solid ground, solid rock, soul, source, spirit, spring, standard, standing order, stereobate, stimulus, stuff, stylobate, substance, substratum, substruction, substructure, teaching, tenet, terra firma, the nitty-gritty, theorem, theoretically, truism, truth, ulterior motive, underbuilding, undercarriage, undergirding, underpinning, understruction, understructure, universal law, universal truth, uprightness, usage, viewpoint, vocation, working principle, working rule

ROGET THESAURUS

Principle

Motive

N motive, springs of action, wellsprings of action, reason, ground, call, principle, by end, by purpose, mainspring, primum mobile, keystone, the why and the wherefore, pro and con, reason why, secret motive, arriere pensee, intention, inducement, consideration, attraction, loadstone, magnet, magnetism, magnetic force, allectation, allective, temptation, enticement, agacerie, allurement, witchery, bewitchment, bewitchery, charm, spell, fascination, blandishment, cajolery, seduction, seducement, honeyed words, voice of the tempter, song of the Sirens forbidden fruit, golden apple, persuasibility, persuasibleness, attractability, impressibility, susceptibility, softness, persuasiveness, attractiveness, tantalization, influence, prompting, dictate, instance, impulse, impulsion, incitement, incitation, press, instigation, provocation, inspiration, persuasion, suasion, encouragement, advocacy, exhortation, advice, solicitation, lobbyism, pull, incentive, stimulus, spur, fillip, whip, goad, ankus, rowel, provocative, whet, dram, bribe, lure, decoy, decoy duck, bait, trail of a red herring, bribery and corruption, sop, sop for Cerberus, prompter, tempter, seducer, seductor, instigator, firebrand, incendiary, Siren, Circe, agent provocateur, lobbyist, impulsive, motive, suasive, suasory, persuasive, persuasory, hortative, hortatory, protreptical, inviting, tempting suasive, suasory, seductive, attractive, fascinating, provocative, induced, disposed, persuadable, spellbound, instinct with, smitten with, infatuated, inspired, by, because, therefore, from this motive, from that motive, for this reason, for that reason, for, by reason of, for the sake of, count of, out of, from, as, forasmuch as, for all the world, on principle, fax mentis incendium gloriae, temptation hath a music for all ears, to beguile many and be beguiled by one.

Intrinsicality

N intrinsicality, inbeing, inherence, inhesion, subjectiveness, ego, egohood, essence, noumenon, essentialness, essential part, quintessence, incarnation, quiddity, gist, pith, marrow, core, sap, lifeblood, backbone, heart, soul, important part, principle, nature, constitution, character, type, quality, crasis, diathesis, habit, temper, temperament, spirit, humor, grain, disposition, endowment, capacity, capability, moods, declensions, features, aspects, peculiarities, idiosyncrasy, oddity, idiocrasy, diagnostics, derived from within, subjective, intrinsic, intrinsical, fundamental, normal, implanted, inherent, essential, natural, innate, inborn, inbred, ingrained, inwrought, coeval with birth, genetous, haematobious, syngenic, radical, incarnate, thoroughbred, hereditary, inherited, immanent, congenital, congenite, connate, running in the blood, ingenerate, ingenite, indigenous, in the grain, bred in the bone, instinctive, inward, internal, to the manner born, virtual, characteristic, invariable, incurable, incorrigible, ineradicable, fixed, intrinsically, at bottom, in the main, in effect, practically, virtually, substantially, au fond, fairly, character is higher than intellect, come give us a taste of your quality, magnos homines virtute metimur non fortuna, non numero haec judicantur sed pondere, vital spark of heavenly flame.

Conformity

N conformity, conformance, observance, habituation, naturalization, conventionality, agreement, example, instance, specimen, sample, quotation, exemplification, illustration, case in point, object lesson, elucidation, standard, model, pattern, rule, nature, principle, law, order of things, normal state, natural state, ordinary state, model state, normal condition, natural condition, ordinary condition, model condition, standing dish, standing order, Procrustean law, law of the Medes and Persians, hard and fast rule, conformable to rule, regular, according to regulation, according to rule, according to Hoyle, according to Cocker, according to Gunter, en regle, selon les regles, well regulated, orderly, symmetric, conventional, of daily occurrence, of everyday occurrence, in the natural order of things, ordinary, common, habitual, usual, everyday, workaday, in the order of the day, naturalized, typical, normal, nominal, formal, canonical, orthodox, sound, strict, rigid, positive, uncompromising, Procrustean, secundum artem, shipshape, technical, exempIe, illustrative, in point, conformably, by rule, agreeably to, in conformity with, in accordance with, in keeping with, according to, consistently with, as usual, ad instar, instar omnium, more solito, more-majorum, for the sake of conformity, as a matter of course, of course, pro forma, for form's sake, by the card, invariably, for example, exempli gratia, e, g, inter alia, among other things, for instance, cela va sans dire, ex pede Herculem, noscitur a sociis, ne e quovis ligno Mercurius fiat, they are happy men whose natures sort with their v, The nail that sticks up hammered down, Tall poppy syndrome, Stick your neck out and it may get cut off.

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Probity

N probity, integrity, rectitude, uprightness, honesty, faith, honor, bonne foi, good faith, bona fides, purity, clean hands, fairness, fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness, grace, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, incorruption, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, truth, candor, singleness of heart, veracity, tender conscience, punctilio, delicacy, nicety, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, scruple, point, point of honor, punctuality, dignity, (repute), respectability, respectableness, gentilhomme, gentleman, man of honor, man of his word, fidus Achates, preux chevalier, galantuomo, truepenny, trump, brick, true Briton, white man, court of honor, a fair field and no favor, argumentum ad verecundiam, upright, honest, honest as daylight, veracious, virtuous, honorable, fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square, fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard, white, constant, constant as the northern star, faithful, loyal, staunch, true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole, marble-constant, true- hearted, trusty, trustworthy, as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible, straightforward, frank, candid, open-hearted, conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded, high-principled, high-minded, scrupulous, religious, strict, nice, punctilious, correct, punctual, respectable, reputable, gentlemanlike, inviolable, inviolate, unviolated, unbroken, unbetrayed, unbought, unbribed, innocent, pure, stainless, unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, undepraved, undebauched, integer vitae scelerisque purus, justus et tenax propositi, chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche, high-spirited, supramundane, unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous, honorable, bona fide, on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae, with clean hands, a face untaught to feign, bene qui latuit bene vixit, mens sibi conscia recti, probitas laudatur et alget, fidelis ad urnam, his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth, loyaute m'oblige, loyaute n'a honte, what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?.

Materiality

N materiality, materialness, corporeity, corporality, substantiality, substantialness, flesh and blood, plenum, physical condition, matter, body, substance, brute matter, stuff, element, principle, parenchyma, material, substratum, hyle, corpus, pabulum, frame, object, article, thing, something, still life, stocks and stones, materials, physics, somatology, somatics, natural philosophy, experimental philosophy, physicism, physical science, philosophie positive, materialism, materialist, physicist, somatism, somatist, material, bodily, corporeal, corporal, physical, somatic, somatoscopic, sensible, tangible, ponderable, palpable, substantial, objective, impersonal, nonsubjective, neuter, unspiritual, materialistic.

Reasoning,

N reasoning ratiocination rationalism, dialectics, induction, generalization, discussion, comment, ventilation, inquiry, argumentation, controversy, debate, polemics, wrangling, contention, logomachy, disputation, disceptation, paper war, art of reasoning, logic, process of reasoning, train of reasoning, chain of reasoning, deduction, induction, abduction, synthesis, analysis, argument, case, plaidoyer, opening, lemma, proposition, terms, premises, postulate, data, starting point, principle, inference, prosyllogism, syllogism, enthymeme, sorites, dilemma, perilepsis, a priori reasoning, reductio ad absurdum, horns of a dilemma, argumentum ad hominem, comprehensive argument, empirema, epagoge, reasoner, logician, dialectician, disputant, controversialist, controvertist, wrangler, arguer, debater polemic, casuist, rationalist, scientist, eristic, logical sequence, good case, correct just reasoning, sound reasoning, valid reasoning, cogent reasoning, logical reasoning, forcible reasoning, persuasive reasoning, persuasory reasoning, consectary reasoning, conclusive, subtle reasoning, force of argument, strong point, strong argument, persuasive argument, arguments, reasons, pros and cons, reasoning, rationalistic, argumentative, controversial, dialectic, polemical, discursory, discursive, disputatious, Aristotelian, eristic, eristical, debatable, controvertible, logical, relevant, for, because, hence, whence, seeing that, since, sith, then thence so, for that reason, for this reason, for which reason, for as, inasmuch as, whereas, ex concesso, considering, in consideration of, therefore, wherefore, consequently, ergo, thus, accordingly, a fortiori, in conclusion, in fine, finally, after all, au bout du compt, on the whole, taking one thing with another, ab actu ad posse valet consecutio, per troppo dibatter la verita si perde, troppo disputare la verita fa errare.

Belief

N belief, credence, credit, assurance, faith, trust, troth, confidence, presumption, sanguine expectation, dependence on, reliance on, persuasion, conviction, convincement, plerophory, self- conviction, certainty, opinion, mind, view, conception, thinking, impression, surmise, conclusion, tenet, dogma, principle, way of thinking, popular belief, firm belief, implicit belief, settled belief, fixed rooted deep- rooted belief, staunch belief, unshaken belief, steadfast belief, inveterate belief, calm belief, sober belief, dispassionate belief, impartial belief, well-founded belief, firm opinion, implicit opinion, settled opinion, fixed rooted deep-rooted opinion, staunch opinion, unshaken opinion, steadfast opinion, inveterate opinion, calm opinion, sober opinion, dispassionate opinion, impartial opinion, well-founded opinion, uberrima fides, system of opinions, school, doctrine, articles, canons, article of faith, declaration of faith, profession of faith, tenets, credenda, creed, thirty-nine articles, catechism, assent, propaganda, credibility, believing, certain, sure, assured, positive, cocksure, satisfied, confident, unhesitating, convinced, secure, under the impression, impressed with, imbued with, penetrated with, confiding, suspectless, unsuspecting, unsuspicious, void of suspicion, credulous, wedded to, believed, accredited, putative, unsuspected, worthy of, deserving of, commanding belief, credible, reliable, trustworthy, to be depended on, satisfactory, probably, fiducial, fiduciary, persuasive, impressive, relating to belief, doctrinal, in the opinion of, in the eyes of, me judice, meseems, methinks, to the best of one's belief, I dare say, I doubt not, I have no doubt, I am sure, sure enough, depend upon, rely upon it, be assured, rest assured, I'll warrant you, experto crede, fata viam invenient, Justitiae soror incorrupta Fides, live to explain thy doctrine by thy life, stands not within the prospect of belief, tarde quae credita laedunt credimus, vide et crede.

Maxim

N maxim, aphorism, apothegm, apophthegm, dictum, saying, adage, saw, proverb, sentence, mot, motto, word, byword, moral, phylactery, protasis, axiom, theorem, scholium, truism, postulate, first principles, a priori fact, assumption (supposition), reflection, conclusion, golden rule, principle, principia, profession of faith, settled principle, accepted principle, formula, accepted fact, received truth, wise maxim, sage maxim, received maxim, admitted maxim, recognized maxim, true saying, common saying, hackneyed saying, trite saying, commonplace saying, aphoristic, proverbial, phylacteric, axiomatic, gnomic, as the saying goes, as the saying is, as they say.