Standard Lemma guide

principled

adj · verb · 4 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈpɹɪnsɪpəld/
  • /ˈpɹɪnsəpəld/
  • CMU ARPABET: P R IH1 N S AH0 P AH0 L D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Based on, having, or manifesting principles

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • While most of these efforts have focused on compressing the uplink, none of them provide a principled solution to compressing the downlink.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Based on, having, or manifesting principles

strongly adhering to, or heedful of, guiding beliefs or moral rules

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

simple past and past participle of principle

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

based on or manifesting objectively defined standards of rightness or morality

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • principled pragmatism and unprincipled expediency
  • a principled person

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: unprincipled

History

Etymology

From principle + -ed.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: սկզբունքային (skzbunkʻayin) — having principles
  • Bulgarian: принципен (principen) — having principles
  • Finnish: periaatteellinen — having principles
  • Finnish: periaatteen- — having principles
  • German: prinzipientreu — having principles
  • German: prinzipienfest — having principles
  • Serbo-Croatian: начелан (načelan) — having principles
  • Spanish: de principios — having principles
  • Swedish: principfast — having principles
  • Ukrainian: принципо́вий (pryncypóvyj) — having principles
  • Welsh: egwyddorol — having principles