All 6 Uses
principle
in
Resistance to Civil Government
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- This principle being admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other.†
principle = basic rule or belief
- His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.†
*unprincipled = lacking or not based on basic beliefsstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unprincipled means not and reverses the meaning of principled. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary, and does not consist wholly with anything which was.†
principle = basic rule or belief
- The proper place today, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less despondent spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles.†
principles = basic rules or beliefs
- Confucius said: "If a state is governed by the principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame; if a state is not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors are subjects of shame."†
- Confucius said: "If a state is governed by the principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame; if a state is not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors are subjects of shame."†
Definitions:
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(1)
(principle) a basic rule or beliefThe exact meaning of principle can depend upon its context. For example:
- "our guiding principles" -- basic moral beliefs that guide decisions and behavior
- "electromagnetic principles" -- rules describing how the world works
- "She lacks principles." -- lacks moral guidelines
- "We agree in principle." -- about important basic beliefs
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) See a comprehensive dictionary for more specialized senses including one in chemistry.