Principal may refer to:

Title or rank

Principal (academia) The principal is the chief executive and the chief academic officer of a university or college in certain parts of the Commonwealth. In the United States, the principal is the head of school at most pre-university, non-boarding schools. Canad ...

, the chief executive of a university **

Principal (education) A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

, the office holder/ or boss in any school *

Principal (civil service) His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...

or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Service *

Principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

, the top rank in ballet *

Principal (music) The section principal in an orchestra, as well as any large musical ensemble, is the lead player for each respective section of instruments. For example, there are multiple sections in an orchestra. The strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion sec ...

, the top rank in an orchestra

Law

Principal (commercial law) In commercial law, a principal is a person, legal or natural, who authorizes an agent to act to create one or more legal relationships with a third party. This branch of law is called agency and relies on the common law proposition (from Latin ...

, the person who authorizes an agent **

Principal (architecture) In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensure, licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and ot ...

, licensed professional(s) with ownership of the firm *

Principal (criminal law) Under criminal law, a principal is any actor who is primarily responsible for a criminal offense.See, e.g., Superior Growers, 982 F.2d at 177-78; United States v. Campa, 679 F.2d 1006, 1013 (lst Cir. 1982). Such an actor is distinguished from othe ...

, the primary actor in a criminal offense *

Principal (Catholic Church) Principal ( pt, Principal, ; ''Principais''), or more formally, Principal of the Holy Patriarchal Church of Lisbon ( pt, Principal da Santa Igreja Patriarcal de Lisboa), was the honorific title granted to the canons of the chapter of the Patriar ...

, an honorific used in the See of Lisbon

Places

Principal, Cape Verde Principal is a settlement in the northern part of the island of Santiago, Cape Verde. It is part of the municipality of São Miguel. The settlement consists of several localities along the river Ribeira Principal, including Chão de Horta, Horte ...

, a village *

Principal, Ecuador Principal, Ecuador is a small village located at the furthest reaches of the Chordeleg Canton, part of the Azuay Province, that is governed by a local authority named "Gobierno Autónimo Descentralizado" or GAD, that oversees public affairs, the ...

, a parish

Media

* ''The Principal'' (TV series), a 2015 Australian drama series * ''

The Principal ''The Principal'' is a 1987 crime thriller action film starring Jim Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr. and Rae Dawn Chong. Written by Frank Deese and directed by Christopher Cain, it was filmed in Oakland, California, and at Northgate High School in n ...

'', a 1987 action film *

, the lead musician in a section of an orchestra *

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

, the first phase of movie production * "The Principal", a song on the album ''

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...

'' by Melanie Martinez

Finance

Principal (finance) Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The de ...

or principal sum, the original amount of a debt or investment on which interest is calculated **

Principal (bond) In finance, a bond is a type of security under which the issuer (debtor) owes the holder (creditor) a debt, and is obliged – depending on the terms – to repay the principal (i.e. amount borrowed) of the bond at the maturity date as well as i ...

, the face value of a bond *

Principal Financial Group Principal Financial Group is an American global financial investment management and insurance company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. Business operations Four segments comprise the company: Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal G ...

, a life insurance company

Other uses

Principal (computer security) A principal in computer security is an entity that can be authenticated by a computer system or network. It is referred to as a security principal in Java and Microsoft literature.

, an entity that can be identified and verified * Principal or diapason, one of the flue pipes on a pipe organ ** Principal or diapason, a corresponding

organ stop An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air (known as ''wind'') to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; each can be "on" (admitting the passage of air ...

on a pipe organ *

Victoria Principal Vicki Ree Principal (born January 3, 1950),Principle (disambiguation) A principle is a value that is a guide for behavior. Principle may also refer to: *Principle (chemistry), a constituent of a substance * Principle (linguistics), a grammar rule that is invariable across languages * Principle Pictures, US * The P ...

, easily confused word * * * * {{Disambiguation, surname