principal

Plural: principals

Noun

• the original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated
• the educator who has executive authority for a school
  • "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal"
• an actor who plays a principal role
• capital as contrasted with the income derived from it
• (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement
• the major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account
• The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.
• The chief administrator of a school.
• The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.
• A legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a negotiorum gestio acts.
• The primary participant in a crime.
• Either party in a duel.
• A partner or owner of a business.
• A type of stop on a pipe organ consisting of flue pipes with a bright tonal quality. They are also sometimes referred to as a diapason.
• The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
• The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.
• One of the turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and centre of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned
• An essential point or rule; a principle.
• A dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company.
• A security principal.
• A main character or lead actor.

Adjective Satellite

• most important element
  • "the principal rivers of America"
  • "the principal example"

Adj

• Primary; most important; first level in importance.
• Of or relating to a prince; princely.
• Chosen or assumed among a branch of possible values of a multi-valued function so that the function is single-valued.

Examples

• A portion of your mortgage payment goes to reduce the principal, and the rest covers interest.
• My principal sells metal shims.
• Smith is the principal architect of this design.
• The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.
• Two is the principal square root of 4. Both −2 and +2 are square roots of 4.
• When an attorney represents a client, the client is the principal who permits the attorney, the client′s agent, to act on the client′s behalf.

Synonyms

chief, corpus, dealer, head, head teacher, lead, main, master, primary, principal sum, school principal, star, client, dean, headmaster, headmistress, headteacher, proprietor, rector, ringleader

Related Words

PITI payment, prince, principality, principally, principalship, principle

Anagrams of principal