Principal vs. Rector — What's the Difference?

First in order of importance; main

(in the Church of England) the incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent.

Denoting an original sum invested or lent

The head of certain universities, colleges, and schools.

The most important or senior person in an organization or group

A cleric in charge of a parish in the Episcopal Church.

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

An Anglican parish priest in a parish where historically the priest was entitled to the tithes.

A person for whom another acts as an agent or representative

A Roman Catholic priest appointed to be managerial as well as spiritual head of a church or other institution, such as a seminary or university.

The person directly responsible for a crime.

The principal of certain schools, colleges, and universities.

A main rafter supporting purlins.

In the Anglican Church, a cleric in charge of a parish and who owns the tithes of it.

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

In the Roman Catholic Church, a cleric with managerial as well as spiritual responsibility for a church or other institution.

First or highest in rank or importance.

A priest or bishop who is in charge of a parish or in an administrative leadership position in a theological seminary or academy.

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

In a Protestant church, a pastor in charge of a church with administrative and pastoral leadership combined.

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

A headmaster in various educational institutions, e.g. a university.

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

(Scotland) An official in Scottish universities who heads the university court and is elected by and represents the student body.

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

A ruler or governor.

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

A clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish, and has the tithes, etc.; the clergyman of a parish where the tithes are not impropriate. See the Note under Vicar.

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

The head master of a public school.

The person on behalf of whom an agent acts.

The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland; sometimes, the head of a college; as, the Rector of Exeter College, or of Lincoln College, at Oxford.

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

The superior officer or chief of a convent or religious house; and among the Jesuits the superior of a house that is a seminary or college.

The main actor in the perpetration of a crime.

A person authorized to conduct religious worship

(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;