Dictionary

prime directive en · NOUN

Meanings

1. An order or mission which presents the overriding control over a course of action.
   • The prime directive of Austrian policy was the preservation of this state of affairs. 1955, René Albrecht-Carrié, Europe After 1815, page 32:
   • We are, after all, discussing the prime directive of academic life and a vitally important rule of civilized life in general: Seek and disseminate the truth. 1902, Michigan Law Review, University of Michigan Law School, page 1949:
   • Such probes would not invalidate the prime directive that a work of art must stand upon its intrinisic artistic merits 1946: University of Iowa/University of Chicago, The Journal of General Education, p. 160

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