| principle | |
| 1. n. A fundamental assumption or guiding belief. | |
| We need some sort of principles to reason from. | |
| 2. n. A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem. | |
| The principle of least privilege holds that a process should only receive the permissions it needs. | |
| 3. n. (sometimes pluralized) Moral rule or aspect. | |
| 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. | |
| 4. n. (physics) A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied. | |
| Bernoulli's Principle | |
| The Pauli Exclusion Principle prevents two fermions from occupying the same state. | |
| The principle of the internal combustion engine | |
| 5. n. A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality. | |
| Many believe that life is the result of some vital principle. | |
| 6. n. (obsolete) A beginning. | |
| 7. n. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause. | |
| 8. n. An original faculty or endowment. | |
| 9. v. To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct. | |
