What's the difference between principle and unprincipled?

Principle


Definition:

  • (n.) Beginning; commencement.
  • (n.) A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
  • (n.) An original faculty or endowment.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (v. t.) To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Stress is laid on certain principles of diagnostic research in the event of extra-suprarenal pheochromocytomas.
  • (2) However, as the same task confronts the Lib Dems, do we not now have a priceless opportunity to bring the two parties together to undertake a fundamental rethink of the way social democratic principles and policies can be made relevant to modern society.
  • (3) To a supporter at the last election like me – someone who spoke alongside Nick Clegg at the curtain-raiser event for the party conference during the height of Labour's onslaught on civil liberties, and was assured privately by two leaders that the party was onside about civil liberties – this breach of trust and denial of principle is astonishing.
  • (4) The White House denied there had been an agreement, but said it was open in principle to such negotations.
  • (5) Using the MTT assay and analyzing the data using the median-effect principle, we showed that synergistic cytotoxic interactions exist between CDDP and VM in their liposomal form.
  • (6) The heretofore "permanently and totally disabled versus able-bodied" principle in welfare reforms is being abbandoned.
  • (7) The binding follows the principle of isotope dilution in the physiologic range of vitamin B12 present in human serum.
  • (8) The principle of the liquid and solid two-phase radioimmunoassay and its application to measuring the concentrations of triiodothyronine and thyroxine of human serum in a single sample at the same time are described in this paper.
  • (9) Spectrophotometric tests for the presence of a lysozyme-like principle in the serum also revealed similar trends with a significant loss of enzyme activity in 2,4,5-T-treated insects.
  • (10) All these strains produced an enterotoxic principle, antigenically related to cholera coli family of enterotoxins, as detected by latex agglutination and immuno-dot-blot tests.
  • (11) The basic principle of the resonant tool, its adaptation for surgery, the experimental results of its use in animals, and clinical experience are reported.
  • (12) It seems tragic, then, that so little of these principles transfer over to the container in which the work is done.
  • (13) This conception of the city as an expression of both regal power and social order, guided by cosmological principles and the pursuit of yin-yang equilibrium, was unlike anything in the western tradition.
  • (14) The general principles of bypass surgery as they affect the cerebral circulation are reviewed.
  • (15) The interest of this view resides in the resulting general principle of classification and interpretation of all forms of disease, giving rise to an "existenialistic pathology".
  • (16) Eight of the UK's biggest supermarkets have signed up to a set of principles following concerns that they were "failing to operate within the spirit of the law" over special offers and promotions for food and drink, the Office of Fair Trading has said.
  • (17) Although the general guiding principle of pharmacotherapy for anxiety disorders--the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time--remains, this rule should not interfere with the judicious use of medications as long as the benefits justify it.
  • (18) In older stages, the cervical joints rotate according to geometric and lever arm principles.
  • (19) Spain’s constitutional court responded by unanimously ruling that the legislation had ignored and infringed the rules of the 1978 constitution , adding that the “principle of democracy cannot be considered to be separate from the unconditional primacy of the constitution”.
  • (20) The principles and practice of aneasthesia for patients having coronary bypass grafts are discussed.

Unprincipled


Definition:

  • (a.) Being without principles; especially, being without right moral principles; also, characterized by absence of principle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) An unprincipled coward with the backbone of an amoeba."
  • (2) And Miliband, through his distaste for much of what New Labour did, “made it acceptable for Labour to rubbish its own achievements and treat winning elections as unprincipled”.
  • (3) , that argues Australia’s approach to human rights “too often has been passive and, of greater concern ... at times ... inconsistent and unprincipled”.
  • (4) Why Livingstone is not recognised as one of the most unprincipled demagogues in Britain after this performance – why, indeed, Labour has not expelled him – is one of the wonders of the age.
  • (5) We’re talking about a very positive response by the public in terms of determination to register and vote but, you know, this has been one of the most vicious, unprincipled, vulgar and violent election exercises I have ever witnessed,” Soyinka reflected sadly.
  • (6) Femi Fani-Kayode, spokesman for the PDP presidential campaign, told Nigeria’s Channels television: “One thing we can all agree on is this is a very close election, probably the closest election in the history of Nigeria , but we believe at the end of the day we will pull through.” Nigerian laureate Wole Soyinka laments ‘vicious, unprincipled’ election Read more He complained of irregularities, however, including alleged APC voters who were underage or brought in from neighbouring Chad and Niger.
  • (7) Annas discusses the importance of In re A.C. in situations where physicians turn to the courts to force compliance from competent pregnant women, a use of the judiciary that Annas calls "counterproductive, unprincipled, sexist, and repressive."
  • (8) If the Tories really want a cynical unprincipled opportunist as leader, at least they know where to look.
  • (9) We have waited 10 years to be told that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is an unprincipled thug.
  • (10) Strong commitment at the center of the party to deals seen as unscrupulous and unprincipled by supporters was a train wreck waiting to happen.
  • (11) People call him wolf; he’s seen as unprincipled and rapacious,” said Louisa Lim, a Hong Kong native and author of People’s Republic of Amnesia, a book about the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
  • (12) I hope parliament will also debate seriously the delegation of the payment of a welfare benefit from a department of state to a public broadcaster, and reject this unprincipled move.
  • (13) In his view, the judges "justified their brutal and unprincipled opinion on the basis that [A.C.] was almost dead," and therefore the fetus's interests outweighed hers.
  • (14) Cameron laughs, takes a beat to consider how to answer, then effectively endorses her characterisation of Johnson as a man driven only by his unprincipled ambition: “It was a very good debate.
  • (15) None of these changes can be expected under the influence of Donald Trump, who sees the truth as tractable, promotes his sexism and narcissism as assets, and in the end, is excessively volatile and unprincipled.
  • (16) All Scandinavian countries are fond of looking down on their neighbours as unprincipled.
  • (17) George Galloway has launched a furious attack on Ed Miliband, describing the Labour leader as "an unprincipled coward with the backbone of an amoeba", after the Respect MP was criticised by him.
  • (18) Such a situation would be unsettlingly reminiscent of 1936, when the centre and the left – notably in France – temporarily halted the swing to fascism but formed an unprincipled and ineffective coalition.
  • (19) It is of no legal consequence because as everybody knows in the Westminster system other than with a reserve power the governor general acts on the advice of his or her ministers.” In a pitch to crossbench senators considering the motion, Abetz said: “It is disgraceful, it is beyond belief, that the Labor party has become so unprincipled in their defence of corrupt union activity that they would go down this track and I trust that the independent senators will not fall for that stunt by Labor.” The Greens are likely to support the motion, meaning Labor needs support from four of the eight crossbench senators to pass it.
  • (20) Nor did Obama have much to say in a speech dominated by nitty-gritty domestic concerns on the other big international issues of the day, whether the problem be climate change (mostly ignored) or China's unprincipled rise (skirted around).