Principal vs. Proprietor — What's the Difference?

First in order of importance; main

An owner.

Denoting an original sum invested or lent

The owner of a business, or a holder of property

The most important or senior person in an organization or group

One who has legal title to something; an owner.

A sum of money lent or invested, on which interest is paid

One who owns or owns and manages a business or other such establishment.

A person for whom another acts as an agent or representative

A sole owner of an unincorporated business, also called a sole proprietor.

The person directly responsible for a crime.

One of the owners of an unincorporated business, a partner.

A main rafter supporting purlins.

(history) One or more persons to whom a colonial territory is assigned, like a fief, including its administration.

An organ stop sounding a main register of open flue pipes typically an octave above the diapason

One who has the legal right or exclusive title to anything, whether in possession or not; an owner; as, the proprietor of farm or of a mill.

First or highest in rank or importance.

(law) someone who owns (is legal possessor of) a business;

Of, relating to, or being financial principal, or a principal in a financial transaction.

One who holds a position of presiding rank, especially the head of an elementary school, middle school, or high school.

A main participant in a situation, especially a financial transaction.

A person having a leading or starring role in a performance, such as the first player in a section of an orchestra.

An amount of capital originally borrowed or invested, as opposed to the interest paid or accruing on it.

The most significant part of an estate, as opposed to minor or incidental components.

The person on behalf of whom an agent acts.

The person having prime responsibility for an obligation as distinguished from one who acts as surety or as an endorser.

The main actor in the perpetration of a crime.

(Architecture) Either of a pair of inclined timbers forming the sides of a triangular truss for a pitched roof.

Primary; most important; first level in importance.

Of or relating to a prince; princely.

(mathematics) Chosen or assumed among a branch of possible values of a multi-valued function so that the function is single-valued.

The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.

The chief administrator of a school.

The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.

(legal) A legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a negotiorum gestio acts.

(legal) The primary participant in a crime.

(North America) A partner or owner of a business.

(music) A diapason, a type of organ stop on a pipe organ.

The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.

The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.

One of the turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and centre of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned

(obsolete) An essential point or rule; a principle.

A dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company.

(computing) A security principal.

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.

Of or pertaining to a prince; princely.

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.

The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, - as distinguished from an accessory.

A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous.

The original amount of a debt on which interest is calculated

The educator who has executive authority for a school;

An actor who plays a principal role

Capital as contrasted with the income derived from it

The major party to a financial transaction at a stock exchange; buys and sells for his own account

Most important element;