All 4 Uses of
principal
in
Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky
- As before, he put his left arm round the sick man's head, raised him up and gave him tea in spoonfuls, again blowing each spoonful steadily and earnestly, as though this process was the principal and most effective means towards his friend's recovery.†
Chpt 2.3 *principal = most important; or person that is most important
- On the canal bank near the bridge and not two houses away from the one where Sonia lodged, there was a crowd of people, consisting principally of gutter children.†
Chpt 5.5principally = primarily or most importantly
- Raskolnikov tried to persuade her to go home, and even said, hoping to work on her vanity, that it was unseemly for her to be wandering about the streets like an organ-grinder, as she was intending to become the principal of a boarding-school.†
Chpt 5.5principal = most important; or person that is most important
- —A theory of a sort, the same one by which I for instance consider that a single misdeed is permissible if the principal aim is right, a solitary wrongdoing and hundreds of good deeds!†
Chpt 6.5
Definition:
most important; or person who is most important
The exact meaning of principal can depend upon its context. For example:
- "the principal idea" or "the principal performer" -- the most important
- "the principal of the school" -- the person in charge
- "a principal of a company" -- an owner or person with controlling authority
- "the principal in a transaction" (as contrasted to the agent) -- the person on whose behalf an agent acts