Synonyms for principal
- adjective
- noun
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Chief — primary; most important; first level in importance
chief, primary, main, prime, superintendent, foremost, capital, master, important, first, prominent, central, leading, fundamental, high, supreme, essential, great, gurt UK, paramount, staple, cardinal, grand
Noun
1. Head teacher — the chief administrator of a school
head teacher, headmaster UK IE, headmistress IE
2. Dean — the chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college
4. Leader
head, leader UK, ring leader
Definitions
- adj. 1
Primary; most important; first level in importance.
Smith is the principal architect of this design.
- n. 1
The chief administrator of a school.
- n. 2
The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.
- n. 3
The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.
Coordinate term: interest
Related words
- Word family
- principally prince principality principle
- Phrases
- principal city
- Is a kind of
- accomplice
Forms
- Plural
- principals → headmasters, headmistresses, presidents, deans…
Example sentences
- main What is the main purpose of your studying English?
- chief High tariffs are the chief obstacles to free trade.
- primary Mixture of the three primary colors creates black.
- prime Cicadas only emerge after a prime number of years.
By length
- 4 letters
- high1, head1, main1, lead1, star1, loan1, dean1, gurt
- 5 letters
- first1, great1, chief1, grand1, prime1
- 6 letters
- leader2, master2, client2, dealer2, staple2, corpus2, rector2
- 7 letters
- central2, capital3, leading2, primary3, supreme2
- 8 letters
- cardinal3, foremost2, flagship2
- 9 letters
- president3, important3, essential3, prominent3, paramount3
- 10 letters
- proprietor4, headmaster3
- 11 letters
- fundamental4
- 12 letters
- headmistress3
- 14 letters
- superintendent5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (leader2 = 2 syllables).