Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun principal

6 senses of principal

Sense 1
principal -- (the original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated)
       => debt -- (money or goods or services owed by one person to another)

Sense 2
principal, school principal, head teacher, head -- (the educator who has executive authority for a school; "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal")
       => educator, pedagogue, pedagog -- (someone who educates young people)

Sense 3
star, principal, lead -- (an actor who plays a principal role)
       => actor, histrion, player, thespian, role player -- (a theatrical performer)

Sense 4
principal, corpus, principal sum -- (capital as contrasted with the income derived from it)
       => capital -- (wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value)

Sense 5
principal -- ((criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement)
       => wrongdoer, offender -- (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)

Sense 6
principal, dealer -- (the major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account)
       => financier, moneyman -- (a person skilled in large scale financial transactions)

Antonyms of adj principal

1 sense of principal

Sense 1
chief (prenominal), main (prenominal), primary (prenominal), principal (prenominal), master (prenominal) -- (most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the main doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were primary targets"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch")

INDIRECT (VIA important) -> unimportant -- (not important; "a relatively unimportant feature of the system"; "the question seems unimportant")

Similarity of adj principal

1 sense of principal

Sense 1
chief (prenominal), main (prenominal), primary (prenominal), principal (prenominal), master (prenominal) -- (most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the main doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were primary targets"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch")
       => important (vs. unimportant), of import -- (of great significance or value; "important people"; "the important questions of the day")