theme

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

theme, n. [OE. teme, OF. teme, F. thème, L. thema, Gr. , fr. to set, place. See Do, and cf. Thesis.].

•  A subject or topic on which a person writes or speaks; a proposition for discussion or argument; a text.  [1913 Webster]

  "My theme is alway one and ever was."  [1913 Webster]

  "And when a soldier was the theme, my name
  Was not far off."  [1913 Webster]
•  Discourse on a certain subject.  [1913 Webster]

  "Then ran repentance and rehearsed his theme."  [1913 Webster]

  "It was the subject of my theme."  [1913 Webster]
•  A composition or essay required of a pupil.  Locke.  [1913 Webster]
•  A noun or verb, not modified by inflections; also, that part of a noun or verb which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) in declension or conjugation; stem.  [1913 Webster]
•  That by means of which a thing is done; means; instrument.  Swift.  [1913 Webster]
•  The leading subject of a composition or a movement.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

theme, n.
1 a subject or topic on which a person speaks, writes, or thinks.
2 Mus. a prominent or frequently recurring melody or group of notes in a composition.
3 US a school exercise, esp. an essay, on a given subject.
4 Gram. the stem of a noun or verb; the part to which inflections are added, esp. composed of the root and an added vowel.
5 hist. any of the 29 provinces in the Byzantine empire.

Idiom

theme park an amusement park organized round a unifying idea. theme song (or tune)
1 a recurrent melody in a musical play or film.
2 a signature tune.

Etymology

ME teme ult. f. Gk thema -matos f. tithemi set, place

THESAURUS

theme

IC analysis, accidence, action, affix, affixation, allomorph, anagnorisis, angle, architectonics, architecture, argument, article, atmosphere, background, background detail, basis, bound morpheme, burden, case, catastrophe, causerie, chapter, characterization, color, complication, composition, concept, concern, conjugation, continuity, contrivance, core, cutting, declension, decorative composition, decorative style, denouement, derivation, descant, design, detail, development, device, difference of form, discourse, discussion, disquisition, dissertation, enclitic, episode, essay, essence, etude, examination, excursus, exercise, exposition, fable, falling action, feature, figure, first approach, focus of attention, focus of interest, foil, foreground detail, form, formative, free form, gimmick, gist, head, heading, homily, idea, immediate constituent analysis, incident, infix, infixation, inflection, introductory study, issue, keynote, leitmotiv, line, living issue, local color, lucubration, main point, matter, matter in hand, meat, memoir, monograph, mood, morceau, morph, morpheme, morphemic analysis, morphemics, morphology, morphophonemics, motif, motive, movement, mythos, national style, note, notion, ornamental motif, outline, pandect, paper, paradigm, paragraph, pattern, period style, peripeteia, phrase, piece, plan, plot, point, point at issue, point in question, prefix, prefixation, preliminary study, problem, proclitic, prolegomenon, question, radical, recognition, repeated figure, research paper, review, rising action, root, rubric, scheme, screed, secondary plot, setting, sketch, slant, special article, stem, story, structure, study, style, subject, subject matter, subject of thought, subplot, substance, suffix, suffixation, survey, switch, term paper, text, thematic development, thesis, thread, tone, topic, touch, tract, tractate, treatise, treatment, twist, word-formation

ROGET THESAURUS

theme

Dissertation

N dissertation, treatise, essay, thesis, theme, monograph, tract, tractate, tractation, discourse, memoir, disquisition, lecture, sermon, homily, pandect, excursus, commentary, review, critique, criticism, article, leader, leading article, editorial, running commentary, investigation, study, discussion, exposition, commentator, critic, essayist, pamphleteer, discursive, discoursive, disquisitionary, expository.

Topic

N topic, subject of thought, material for thought, food for the mind, mental pabulum, subject, subject matter, matter, theme, noemata, topic, what it is about, thesis, text, business, affair, matter in hand, argument, motion, resolution, head, chapter, case, point, proposition, theorem, field of inquiry, moot point, problem, thought of, uppermost in the mind, in petto, under consideration, in question, in the mind, on foot, on the carpet, on the docket, on the tapis, relative to.

Teaching

N teaching, instruction, edification, education, tuition, tutorage, tutelage, direction, guidance, opsimathy, qualification, preparation, training, schooling, discipline, excitation, drill, practice, book exercise, persuasion, proselytism, propagandism, propaganda, indoctrination, inculcation, inoculation, advise, explanation, lesson, lecture, sermon, apologue, parable, discourse, prolection, preachment, chalk talk, Chautauqua, exercise, task, curriculum, course, course of study, grammar, three R's, initiation, A, B, C, elementary education, primary education, secondary education, technical education, college education, collegiate education, military education, university education, liberal education, classical education, religious education, denominational education, moral education, secular education, propaedeutics, moral tuition, gymnastics, calisthenics, physical drill, physical education, sloyd, phonics, rote, rote memorization, brute memory, cooperative learning, Montessori method, ungraded classes, test, examination, exam, final exam, mid-term exam grade, score, marks, A, B, C, D, E, F, gentleman's C, pass, fail, incomplete, homework, take-home lesson, exercise for the student, theme, project, teaching, taught, educational, scholastic, academic, doctrinal, disciplinal, instructive, instructional, didactic, propaedeutic, propaedeutical, the schoolmaster abroad, a bovi majori disscit arare minor, adeo in teneris consuecere multum est, docendo discimus, quaenocent docent, qui docet discit, sermons in stones and good in everything.