Dictionary.com
definitions

topic

[top-ik]
||
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).

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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR topic ON THESAURUS.COM
2. thesis, subject matter. See subject.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for topic

case, affair, business, point, material, question, argument, matter, theme, proposition, field, problem, issue, subject, division, head, motif, text, motion, thesis

Examples from the Web for topic

Contemporary Examples of topic

Historical Examples of topic

  • In close connexion with the Survey and Lands Department is the topic of exploration.

  • Young Hiram had no patience with one's profession as a topic of conversation.

  • Each time she got on this topic I cut her short, vowing that if I ever married she only should be my wife.

    Green Mansions

    W. H. Hudson

  • No word on this topic has ever passed between Mr Henry Gowan and myself.'

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

  • This abandonment of the second topic threw him on the third.

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for topic

topic

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
Word Origin and History for topic
n.

1630s, "argument suitable for debate," singular form of "Topics" (1560s), the name of a work by Aristotle on logical and rhetorical generalities, from Latin Topica, from Greek Ta Topika, literally "matters concerning topoi," from topoi "commonplaces," neuter plural of topikos "commonplace, of a place," from topos "place" (see topos). The meaning "matter treated in speech or writing, subject, theme" is first recorded 1720.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper