topic

[ top-ik ]

/ ˈtɒp ɪk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR topic ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a subject of conversation or discussion: to provide a topic for discussion.

the subject or theme of a discourse or of one of its parts.

Rhetoric, Logic. a general field of considerations from which arguments can be drawn.

Also called theme. Linguistics. the part of a sentence that announces the item about which the rest of the sentence communicates information, often signaled by initial position in the sentence or by a grammatical marker.Compare comment(def 7).

Nearby words

tophamper, tophet, tophus, topi, topiary, topic, topic sentence, topical, topical anesthesia, topicality, topicalize

Origin of topic

1560–70; < Latin topica (plural) < Greek (tà) topiká name of work by Aristotle (literally, (things) pertaining to commonplaces), equivalent to tóp(os) commonplace + -ika, neuter plural of -ikos -ic; see topo-

SYNONYMS FOR topic

2 thesis, subject matter. See subject.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR topic ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for topic

One topic that comes up among the members, she says, is dealing with loss years later.
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone|Samantha Levine|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The other Twitter topic you are well known for is the topic of Salon.
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire|William O’Connor|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Of course there was no official way to have these interviews given the sensitivity of the topic.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind|Brin-Jonathan Butler|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Cezanne all frequented the circus and adopted it as a topic.
We’re All Carnies Now: Why We Can’t Quit the Circus|Anthony Paletta|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

I invite you to keep exploring this topic in the pages of Issue II of Safe.
To End HIV, Stop Violence Against Adolescent Girls|Michele Moloney-Kitts|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She humored him, and affected a great interest in all this, and had not the courage to force the other topic on.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866|Various
The Royal Academy of Berlin, offered in 1818, a prize of 3300 francs, for an essay on this topic.
North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826|Various
The weather was, therefore, the topic of conversation on board.
In Search of the Castaways|Jules Verne
Clare was an imaginative child, and the topic of all her dreams was this mysterious mother whom she had never seen.
Clare Avery|Emily Sarah Holt
This topic should be the final one in the course of instruction passed through by each man and woman.
The World's Greatest Books--Volume 14--Philosophy and Economics|Various

British Dictionary definitions for topic

topic

/ (ˈtɒpɪk) /

noun

a subject or theme of a speech, essay, book, etc

a subject of conversation; item of discussion

(in rhetoric, logic, etc) a category or class of arguments or ideas which may be drawn on to furnish proofs

Word Origin for topic

C16: from Latin topica translating Greek ta topika, literally: matters relating to commonplaces, title of a treatise by Aristotle, from topoi, pl of topos place, commonplace

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

topic

noun

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of topic

SYNONYMS FOR topic

Examples from the Web for topic

British Dictionary definitions for topic

topic

noun

Word Origin for topic