in principle

phrase

: with respect to fundamentals

They accepted the offer in principle.

Examples of in principle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

An agreement in principle has now been reached, with the transfer still pending a medical for the midfielder. — Aston Villa, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2026

Deloitte's workforce research finds finance leaders increasingly favor training their existing teams over hiring new AI-fluent talent, a sound strategy in principle but one that takes considerably longer to pay off than simply buying a new tool. — Anders Liu-Lindberg, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

The problem is straightforward in principle but difficult to solve. — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 15 Aug. 2026

Questions around beauty and longing recur, as do keywords (such as ‘password’), names, references and scenic features, but what fascinated me most is that in principle each episode could be read as a little patchy universe on its own. — Literary Hub, 11 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1756, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for in principle

• principal