Prin·ci·ple n.
1. Beginning; commencement. [Obs.]
Doubting sad end of principle unsound. --Spenser.
2. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
The soul of man is an active principle. --Tillotson.
3. An original faculty or endowment.
Nature in your principles hath set [benignity]. --Chaucer.
Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering. --Stewart.
4. A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.
Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. --Heb. vi. 1.
A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad. --Milton.
5. A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle.
All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind. --Law.
6. Chem. Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc.
Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna. --Gregory.
Bitter principle, Principle of contradiction, etc. See under Bitter, Contradiction, etc.
Con·tra·dic·tion n.
1. An assertion of the contrary to what has been said or affirmed; denial of the truth of a statement or assertion; contrary declaration; gainsaying.
His fair demands
Shall be accomplished without contradiction. --Shak.
2. Direct opposition or repugnancy; inconsistency; incongruity or contrariety; one who, or that which, is inconsistent.
can he make deathless death? That were to make
Strange contradiction. --Milton.
We state our experience and then we come to a manly resolution of acting in contradiction to it. --Burke.
Both parts of a contradiction can not possibly be true. --Hobbes.
Of contradictions infinite the slave. --Wordsworth.
Principle of contradiction Logic, the axiom or law of thought that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time, or a thing must either be or not be, or the same attribute can not at the same time be affirmed and and denied of the same subject; also called the law of the excluded middle.
Note: It develops itself in three specific forms which have been called the “Three Logical Axioms.” First, “A is A.” Second, “A is not Not-A” Third, “Everything is either A or Not-A.”
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Ex·clude v. t. [imp. & p. p. Excluded; p. pr. & vb. n. Excluding.]
1. To shut out; to hinder from entrance or admission; to debar from participation or enjoyment; to deprive of; to except; -- the opposite to admit; as, to exclude a crowd from a room or house; to exclude the light; to exclude one nation from the ports of another; to exclude a taxpayer from the privilege of voting.
And none but such, from mercy I exclude. --Milton.
2. To thrust out or eject; to expel; as, to exclude young animals from the womb or from eggs.
Excluded middle. logic The name given to the third of the “three logical axioms,” so-called, namely, to that one which is expressed by the formula: “Everything is either A or Not-A.” no third state or condition being involved or allowed. See Principle of contradiction, under Contradiction.
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Im·pos·si·bil·i·ty n.; pl. Impossibilities
1. The quality of being impossible; impracticability.
They confound difficulty with impossibility. --South.
2. An impossible thing; that which is not possible; that which can not be thought, done, or endured.
Impossibilities! O, no, there's none. --Cowley.
3. Inability; helplessness. [R.]
Logical impossibility, a condition or statement involving contradiction or absurdity; as, that a thing can be and not be at the same time. See Principle of Contradiction, under Contradiction.
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