English

Pronunciation
audio|en-us-principal.ogg|Audio (US)

Adjective
en-adj-more

1. Primary; most important in a group.

#: Smith is the principal architect of this design.
#: The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.

Usage notes
Not to be confused with principle.

This is generally not used in the comparative or superlative in formal writing, as the meaning is already superlative. However, one may occasionally see, e.g., more principal meaning more likely to be principal or more nearly principal. There are similar issues with unique.

The confused may care to remember that 'The principal alphabetic principle places A before E' as a reminder of the relative spelling.

Translations
trans-top|primary, main
Arabic: Arab|رئ�س� IPAchar|(ra�īsi)
Chinese: 主�� (zh�yào de)
Dutch: voornaamste
Finnish: pää-
French: principal
German: hauptsächlich
Hungarian: f�
Italian: principale
trans-mid
Japanese: 主�� (�����, shuy�na)
Korean: 주�� (juyohan)
Polish: podstawowy
Portuguese: principal
Romanian: principal#Romanian|principal
Russian: о�новной (osnovnój)
Spanish: principal
Swedish: huvudsaklig
trans-bottom

Noun
en-noun|s|-

1. context|finance|uncountable The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.

#: A portion of your mortgage payment goes to reduce the principal, and the rest covers interest.

1. North America|Australia The principal administrator of a school.

#: Now you're in trouble! You're going to see the principal for that.

1. A company you represent in as a sales person.

#: One of my principals sells metal shims. I can get those for you.

Translations
trans-top|The money originally invested or loaned
trans-mid
Polish: kapita�
trans-bottom

trans-top|The principal administrator of a school
Chinese: 校�, 校� (xiàozh�ng)
Dutch: schoolhoofd
Finnish: rehtori
French: directeur m
German: Schulvorsteher m
Hebrew: he-translation|�נ��|menahél m, he-translation|�נ��ת|menahélet f
trans-mid
Japanese: 学校� (gakk�ch�)
Korean: �� �� (hakgyo gyojang)
Latin:
:Modern: administrator principalis
:Classical: rector scholaris nominative, rectoris scholaris genitive
Russian: ди�ек�о� �кол� (diréktor škóly) m
Spanish: director, principal de escuela, jefe de estudios
trans-bottom

trans-top|A company you represent in as a sales person
trans-mid
trans-bottom

See also
headmaster
PITI payment
principle

Romanian

Etymology
F.|ro principal#French|principal, L.|ro principalis

Adjective
ro-adj|4

1. principal#English|principal, primary, chief, foremost

Declension
ro-adj-4|principal

Synonyms
central#Romanian|central

Antonyms
secundar

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• 2007-12-21 09:40 - Stephen G. Brown - Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/202.164.44.82|202.164.44.82]] ([[User_talk:202.164.44.82|Talk]]); changed back to last version by [[User:AutoFormat|AutoFormat]]

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