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. | |