What's the difference between main and principal?

Main


Definition:

  • (n.) A hand or match at dice.
  • (n.) A stake played for at dice.
  • (n.) The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
  • (n.) A match at cockfighting.
  • (n.) A main-hamper.
  • (v.) Strength; force; might; violent effort.
  • (v.) The chief or principal part; the main or most important thing.
  • (v.) The great sea, as distinguished from an arm, bay, etc. ; the high sea; the ocean.
  • (v.) The continent, as distinguished from an island; the mainland.
  • (v.) principal duct or pipe, as distinguished from lesser ones; esp. (Engin.), a principal pipe leading to or from a reservoir; as, a fire main.
  • (a.) Very or extremely strong.
  • (a.) Vast; huge.
  • (a.) Unqualified; absolute; entire; sheer.
  • (a.) Principal; chief; first in size, rank, importance, etc.
  • (a.) Important; necessary.
  • (a.) Very; extremely; as, main heavy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In conclusion, the efficacy of free tissue transfer in the treatment of osteomyelitis is geared mainly at enabling the surgeon to perform a wide radical debridement of infected and nonviable soft tissue and bone.
  • (2) Aggregation was more frequent in low-osmolal media: mainly rouleaux were formed in ioxaglate but irregular aggregates in non-ionic media.
  • (3) The main clinical features pertaining to the concept of the "psycho-organic syndrome" (POS) were investigated in a sample of children who suffered from severe craniocerebral trauma.
  • (4) Squadron Leader Kevin Harris, commander of the Merlins at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand, praised the crews, adding: "The Merlins will undergo an extensive programme of maintenance and cleaning before being packed up, ensuring they return to the UK in good order."
  • (5) The main finding of this study is that diabetic adolescents with a high erythrocyte Na,Li countertransport rate have an arterial pressure significantly higher than patients with normal Na,Li countertransport fluxes.
  • (6) We also show that the gene of the main capsid protein is expressed from its own promoter in an Escherichia coli strain.
  • (7) In schizophrenic patients the density of dopamine uptake sites in the basal ganglia was slightly reduced, mainly in the middle third of putamen.
  • (8) One of the main users is coastal planning organizations and conservation organizations that are working on coral reefs.
  • (9) Immunofluorescence analysis of Pr-28 antigen showed that the antigen was localized mainly in perinuclear cytoplasm.
  • (10) The main result of the correspondence analysis is a geometric map of this relationship showing how the relative frequencies of headache types change with age.
  • (11) Myocardial ischaemia was induced in perfused rabbit hearts by ligating the left main coronary artery.
  • (12) Thus, human bronchial epithelial cells can express the IL-8 gene, with expression in response to the inflammatory mediator TNF regulated mainly at the transcriptional level, and with elements within the 5'-flanking region of the gene that are directly or indirectly modulated by the TNF signal.
  • (13) Statistically significant differences were found mainly in the randomized trial, where during the first and second years, respectively, adenoidectomy subjects had 47% and 37% less time with otitis media than control subjects and 28% and 35% fewer suppurative (acute) episodes than control subjects.
  • (14) One of the main components was confirmed to be caffeic acid which had inhibitory effect on renal failure in mice by Ac1-P.
  • (15) In four main regions the conservation varied from 83-91% while in the remaining regions the homology dropped to between 56-62%.
  • (16) In the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus (Vc), the collaterals of one half of the periodontium afferent fibers terminated mainly in lamina V at the rostral and middle levels of Vc.
  • (17) Loratadine has one main metabolite, descarbethoxyloratadine, which is four times more active than the parent drug.
  • (18) The structures of 1 and 2 were established mainly on the basis of nmr spectroscopic data.
  • (19) The main clinical symptom was pain, usually sciatica, while neurological symptoms were less common than they are in adults.
  • (20) Possibilities to achieve this both in the curative and the preventive field are restricted mainly due to the insufficient knowledge of their etiopathogenesis.

Principal


Definition:

  • (a.) Highest in rank, authority, character, importance, or degree; most considerable or important; chief; main; as, the principal officers of a Government; the principal men of a state; the principal productions of a country; the principal arguments in a case.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to a prince; princely.
  • (n.) A leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant.
  • (n.) The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory.
  • (n.) A chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety.
  • (n.) One who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent.
  • (n.) A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous.
  • (n.) A capital sum of money, placed out at interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; -- so called in distinction from interest or profit.
  • (n.) The construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, -- generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. Also, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
  • (n.) In English organs the chief open metallic stop, an octave above the open diapason. On the manual it is four feet long, on the pedal eight feet. In Germany this term corresponds to the English open diapason.
  • (n.) A heirloom; a mortuary.
  • (n.) The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.
  • (n.) One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned.
  • (n.) A principal or essential point or rule; a principle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In addition to their involvement in thrombosis, activated platelets release growth factors, most notably a platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) which may be the principal mediator of smooth muscle cell migration from the media into the intima and of smooth muscle cell proliferation in the intima as well as of vasoconstriction.
  • (2) While stereology is the principal technique, particularly in its application to the parenchyma, other compartments such as the airways and vasculature demand modifications or different methods altogether.
  • (3) Chromatography and immunoassays are the two principal techniques used in research and clinical laboratories for the measurement of drug concentrations in biological fluids.
  • (4) This paper reports, principally, the caries results of the first three surveys of 5, 12 and 5-year-olds undertaken at the end of 1987, 1988 and 1989, respectively.
  • (5) Rigidly fixing the pubic symphysis stiffened the model and resulted in principal stress patterns that did not reflect trabecular density or orientations as well as those of the deformable pubic symphysis model.
  • (6) The binding parameters indicate that the principal activating effect of UMP is not simply to increase the affinity of the enzyme for glucose.
  • (7) Mononuclear phagocytic cells from patients with either principal form of leprosy functioned similarly to normal monocytes in phagocytosis while their fungicidal activity for C. pseudotropicalis was statistically significantly altered and was more evident in the lepromatous than in the tuberculoid type.
  • (8) In the terminal segment of the hamster epididymidis there was some evidence of micro-merocrine protein secretion a the level of the principal cells and clear evidence of granular secretion in the light cells, presumable of glycoproteins.
  • (9) In the analysis of background fluorescence, the principal components were, as for the two-step technique, autofluorescence and propidium spectral overlap.
  • (10) However, at Period B, neutrophil numbers in the BAL fluid were increased in the principal but not in the control animals.
  • (11) Principal conclusions are: 1) rapid change to predominantly heterosexual HIV transmission can occur in North America, with serious societal impact; 2) gender-specific clinical features can lead to earlier diagnosis of HIV infection in women; 3) HIV infection in women does not pursue an inherently more rapid course than that observed in men.
  • (12) The concentrations of the principal extratesticular androgens and estradiol do not seem to have a quantitative influence on these androphilic proteins either.
  • (13) A principal function of GPIb is its attachment to von Willebrand Factor (vWF) on injured blood vessels which leads to the adhesion of platelets to these vessels.
  • (14) The principal variables influencing a particular configuration and their effects are indicated.
  • (15) The principal form of HMTs produced by these human peripheral blood monocytes has been subjected to biochemical, functional, and serological characterization.
  • (16) Micronutrient antioxidants such as alpha-tocopherol, the principal lipid-soluble antioxidant, assume potential significance because levels can be manipulated by dietary measures without resulting in side effects.
  • (17) Cytochrome oxidase histochemistry revealed patchy patterns of the enzyme activity in transverse sections through the caudal part of the ventral subnucleus of the principal sensory trigeminal nucleus, interpolar spinal trigeminal nucleus, and layer IV of the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus in the cat.
  • (18) 3. an up-to-date review of the principal methods and systems used to measure the sedimentation rate--Automation of the Westergren initial methodology.
  • (19) • Queen Margaret Union, one of the University of Glasgow's two student unions, says 200 students there are marching on the principal's office at the moment to present an anti-cuts petition.
  • (20) This observation provides corroboration for the identification of the principal CCK-I neuron in the rat olfactory bulb as the centrally projecting middle tufted cell.