different between principle vs pith

principle

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French principe, from Latin pr?ncipium (beginning, foundation), from pr?nceps (first); see prince.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?p??ns?p?l/, /?p??ns?p?l/
  • Hyphenation: prin?ci?ple
  • Homophone: principal

Noun

principle (plural principles)

  1. A fundamental assumption or guiding belief.
    • Let us consider ‘my dog is asleep on the floor’ again. Frege thinks that this sentence can be analyzed in various different ways. Instead of treating it as expressing the application of __ is asleep on the floor to my dog, we can think of it as expressing the application of the concept
           my dog is asleep on __
      to the object
           the floor
      (see Frege 1919). Frege recognizes what is now a commonplace in the logical analysis of natural language. We can attribute more than one logical form to a single sentence. Let us call this the principle of multiple analyses. Frege does not claim that the principle always holds, but as we shall see, modern type theory does claim this.
  2. A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.
  3. (sometimes pluralized) Moral rule or aspect.
    I don't doubt your principles.
    You are clearly a person of principle.
    It's the principle of the thing; I won't do business with someone I can't trust.
  4. (physics) A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
    Bernoulli's Principle
    The Pauli Exclusion Principle prevents two fermions from occupying the same state.
    The principle of the internal combustion engine
  5. A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
    • 1845, William Gregory, Outlines of Chemistry
      Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna.
  6. (obsolete) A beginning.
  7. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
    • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of Being Religious
      The soul of man is an active principle.
  8. An original faculty or endowment.
    • 1828, Dugal Stewart, The Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers of Man
      those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering

Usage notes

  • Principle ("moral rule"), as a noun, is often confused with principal, which can be an adjective ("most important") or a noun ("school principal"). A memory aid to avoid this confusion is: "The principal alphabetic principle places A before E".

Synonyms

  • (moral rule or aspect): tenet

Derived terms

Related terms

  • prince
  • principal
  • principality

Translations

Verb

principle (third-person singular simple present principles, present participle principling, simple past and past participle principled)

  1. (transitive) To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct.
    • Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired.

Further reading

  • principle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • principle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

principle From the web:

  • what principle underlies cognitive-behavioral therapy
  • what principles was america founded on
  • what principles are central to democracies
  • what principles are reflected in the u.s. constitution
  • what principle of government is voting
  • what principle is demonstrated by the mcgurk effect
  • what principle of government is the 10th amendment
  • what principle of equity is illustrated by this diagram


pith

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English pith, pithe, from Old English piþa, from Proto-Germanic *piþô (compare West Frisian piid (pulp, kernel), Dutch peen (carrot), Low German Peddik (pulp, core)), from earlier *piþ? (oblique *pittan). Doublet of pit. The verb meaning "to kill by cutting or piercing the spinal cord" is attested 1805.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /p??/
  • Rhymes: -??

Noun

pith (usually uncountable, plural piths)

  1. (botany) The soft, spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees.
  2. The spongy interior substance of a feather or horn.
  3. (anatomy) The spinal cord; the marrow.
  4. (botany) The albedo of a citrus fruit.
  5. (figuratively) The essential or vital part; force; energy; importance.
    • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 144]:
      The clothesline surrendered the pith of its soul, and Kathleen's stockings, hung at the wide end, now suggested lust.
  6. (figuratively) Power, strength, might.
Synonyms
  • (essential or necessary part): core, essence, general tenor, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, quintessence, soul, spirit, stuff, substance; See also Thesaurus:gist
Related terms
  • pith helmet
  • pithy
  • pith and substance
Translations

Verb

pith (third-person singular simple present piths, present participle pithing, simple past and past participle pithed)

  1. (transitive) To extract the pith from (a plant stem or tree).
  2. (transitive) To kill (especially cattle or laboratory animals) by cutting or piercing the spinal cord.

Etymology 2

From pi (number 3.14159...) +? -th.

Alternative forms

  • pi-th

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pa??/

Adjective

pith (not comparable)

  1. The ordinal form of the number pi.
Translations

Noun

pith (plural piths)

  1. One divided by pi.
Translations

Anagrams

  • phit

Middle English

Alternative forms

  • pithe, piþ, piþþe, pyþe, peþe, pyth, pythe

Etymology

From Old English piþa, from Proto-Germanic *piþô.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?pi?(?)/, /?pið(?)/, /?pe??(?)/

Noun

pith (uncountable)

  1. The soft interior portion of something, especially:
    1. (botany) pith (soft substance in the center of a plant's stem)
    2. The pulp (soft innards) of a fruit.
  2. (figuratively) The essential or vital part; importance.
  3. (figuratively) Power, strength, might.

Descendants

  • English: pith
  • Scots: pith

References

  • “pith(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

pith From the web:

  • what pithy mean
  • pith meaning
  • what pithoragarh is famous for
  • what pith ball
  • what's pith in spanish
  • what pith in plants
  • what's pith and vinegar
  • what pith is used for
+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share

you may also like