principal

Primary; most important; first level in importance.

Smith is the principal architect of this design.

The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.

Đồng nghĩa: chief, main, primary

(Latinism, obsolete)Of or relating to a prince; princely.

(mathematics) 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.

(uncountable)(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.

2012, Denis Clifford, Plan Your Estate, 11th Edition, NOLO, US, page 298, For instance, in some states, dividends that have automatically been reinvested will be treated as principal.

Coordinate term: interest

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Philippines, US, countable, uncountable)The chief administrator of a school.

2011, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2011-2012, page 45, Principals are now being held more accountable for the performance of students and teachers, while at the same time they are required to adhere to a growing number of government regulations.

Đồng nghĩa: headteacher, headmaster, headmistress

(Canada, UK, countable, uncountable)The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.

1967, University of Edinburgh Graduates′ Association, University of Edinburgh Journal, Volumes 23-24, page 314, Unlike the students, Principal Robertson, who now resided almost alone in the College, continued to use the accustomed route on his visits to the Old Town; and it “became the joke of the day that from being the principal gate it had become only a gate for the Principal.”⁵

Coordinate term: bursar

Đồng nghĩa: dean, rector

(countable, uncountable)(law) A legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a negotiorum gestio acts.

When an attorney represents a client, the client is the principal who permits the attorney, the client′s agent, to act on the client′s behalf.

My principal sells metal shims.

2009, California Continuing Education of the Bar, California Probate Code, page 375, An attorney-in-fact has a duty to act solely in yhe interest of the principal and to avoid conflicts of interest.

Đồng nghĩa: client

(countable, uncountable)(law) The primary participant in a crime.

Đồng nghĩa: ringleader

(countable, uncountable)Either party in a duel.

(Canada, US, countable, uncountable)A partner or owner of a business.

Đồng nghĩa: proprietor

(countable, uncountable)(music) A type of stop on a pipe organ consisting of flue pipes with a bright tonal quality. They are also sometimes referred to as a diapason.

(countable, uncountable)(architecture, engineering) The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.

(countable, uncountable)The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.

(countable, uncountable)One of the turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and centre of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned

(countable, obsolete, uncountable)An essential point or rule; a principle.