principal
Primary; most important; first level in importance.
Example
“Smith is the principal architect of this design.”
Other meanings
Chosen or assumed among a branch of possible values of a multi-valued function so that the function is single-valued.
“Two is the principal square root of 4. Both −2 and +2 are square roots of 4.”
Of or relating to a prince; princely.
Synonyms
- chief
- main
- primary
- master
Related words
- principally
Word history
From Latin "prīncipālis".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “principal” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.