Standard Lemma guide

principia

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • CMU ARPABET: P R IH0 N S IH1 P IY0 AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

First principles; elementary material.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, plural, plural-normally

Examples

  • 1776, Thomas Pownall, in a letter to the economist Adam Smith I do really think, that your book [...] might become an institute, containing the principia of those laws of motion, by which the system of the human community is framed and doth act [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipia.

Real reading context

principia in complete knowledge articles

Janis Driver Treworgy Ideas & learning · Advanced · 2 uses