"principial" meaning in English

See principial in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more principial [comparative], most principial [superlative]
Etymology: Probably a learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipiālis. By surface analysis, principia + -al. Etymology templates: {{lbor|en|la|prī̆ncipiālis|nocap=1}} learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipiālis, {{surf|en|principia|-al}} By surface analysis, principia + -al Head templates: {{en-adj}} principial (comparative more principial, superlative most principial)
  1. Elementary; fundamental.
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  "etymology_text": "Probably a learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipiālis. By surface analysis, principia + -al.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more principial",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
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    },
    {
      "form": "most principial",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1620, Francis Bacon, Novum Organum:",
          "text": "On account of heat being kindled by the attrition of bodies, reject a principial nature. By principial nature I mean that which exists in the nature of things positively, and not as the effect of any antecedent nature.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Reiner Schürmann, Broken Hegemonies, page 274:",
          "text": "My only aim will be to trace the dislocating work of the two conditions that ensue, namely, the principial condition over which the foundation presides and the ground as the originary condition.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, David Gibson, Reading the Decree:",
          "text": "The latter, a principial christocentrism, may include the monergistic view of salvation, but it will also assume that Christ is the principium cognoscendi theologiae or, in Kickel's phrase the Erkenntnissgrund of theology.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "Elementary; fundamental."
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      "id": "en-principial-en-adj-Map6-r5B",
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        ],
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          "fundamental"
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    }
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  "word": "principial"
}
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      "name": "lbor"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably a learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipiālis. By surface analysis, principia + -al.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more principial",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most principial",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "principial (comparative more principial, superlative most principial)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
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        "English terms suffixed with -al",
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        "Pages with 2 entries",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1620, Francis Bacon, Novum Organum:",
          "text": "On account of heat being kindled by the attrition of bodies, reject a principial nature. By principial nature I mean that which exists in the nature of things positively, and not as the effect of any antecedent nature.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Reiner Schürmann, Broken Hegemonies, page 274:",
          "text": "My only aim will be to trace the dislocating work of the two conditions that ensue, namely, the principial condition over which the foundation presides and the ground as the originary condition.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, David Gibson, Reading the Decree:",
          "text": "The latter, a principial christocentrism, may include the monergistic view of salvation, but it will also assume that Christ is the principium cognoscendi theologiae or, in Kickel's phrase the Erkenntnissgrund of theology.",
          "type": "quote"
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-02 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (db8a5a5 and fb63907). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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