topic sentence

American  

Or topical sentence

noun

1. a sentence that expresses the essential idea of a paragraph or larger section, usually appearing at the beginning.

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topic sentence British  

noun

1. a sentence in a paragraph that expresses the main idea or point of the whole paragraph

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topic sentence Cultural  

1. The main sentence in a paragraph, often the first sentence. It briefly conveys the essential idea of the paragraph.

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Etymology

Origin of topic sentence

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Then Katie emailed me an update of her project outline, with the topic sentences from every paragraph.

From Literature

But crafting a note like “A topic sentence should signal what the paragraph is about. Can you try reworking this sentence to reflect the paragraph?” is far more empowering.

From Scientific American

As the kids worked on learning fractions, European colonization of Native lands and topic sentences, Tamas worked in the mental breaks.

From Seattle Times

But he figured out how to absorb reading material by scanning the conclusion first and focusing on topic sentences.

From Los Angeles Times

Maybe those people don’t want to use topic sentences.

From Literature