"principal" meaning in English

See principal in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈprɪnsɪpəl/ Audio: en-us-principal.ogg [US] Forms: principal [positive], [comparative], [superlative]
Head templates: {{adj|principal}} [POS TABLE]
  1. The principal thing is the main or most important one.
    Sense id: simple-principal-en-adj-LMRhvzc3 Categories (other): Attributive modifiers

Noun

IPA: /ˈprɪnsɪpəl/ Audio: en-us-principal.ogg [US] Forms: principal [singular], principals [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. In American English, a principal is the head of a school. (headmaster in British English)
    Sense id: simple-principal-en-noun-WerQMaN1
  2. The principal is the most important person in a business, or an artistic group such as a dancers.
    Sense id: simple-principal-en-noun-DFSC0CME
  3. Principal is the money that you borrow and must pay back. It does not include interest.
    Sense id: simple-principal-en-noun-Eck-jhN-
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "principal",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "principal"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Attributive modifiers",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Canada's principal trading partner is the USA."
        },
        {
          "text": "Presumably most of us work for the same principal reason – in order to live."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The principal thing is the main or most important one."
      ],
      "id": "simple-principal-en-adj-LMRhvzc3",
      "raw_tags": [
        "usually before a noun"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈprɪnsɪpəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-principal.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "principle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "principal"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "principal",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "principals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "In American English, a principal is the head of a school. (headmaster in British English)"
      ],
      "id": "simple-principal-en-noun-WerQMaN1",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "The principal is the most important person in a business, or an artistic group such as a dancers."
      ],
      "id": "simple-principal-en-noun-DFSC0CME",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Principal is the money that you borrow and must pay back. It does not include interest."
      ],
      "id": "simple-principal-en-noun-Eck-jhN-",
      "raw_tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈprɪnsɪpəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-principal.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "principle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "principal"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "principal",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "principal"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Attributive modifiers"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Canada's principal trading partner is the USA."
        },
        {
          "text": "Presumably most of us work for the same principal reason – in order to live."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The principal thing is the main or most important one."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "usually before a noun"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈprɪnsɪpəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-principal.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "principle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "principal"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "principal",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "principals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In American English, a principal is the head of a school. (headmaster in British English)"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The principal is the most important person in a business, or an artistic group such as a dancers."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Principal is the money that you borrow and must pay back. It does not include interest."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈprɪnsɪpəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-principal.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "principle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "principal"
}

Download raw JSONL data for principal meaning in English (1.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-26 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (89e900c and ea19a0a). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.