[thee-sis] 
[-seez] . | 1. | a proposition stated or put forward for consideration, esp. one to be discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections: He vigorously defended his thesis on the causes of war. |
| 2. | a subject for a composition or essay. |
| 3. | a dissertation on a particular subject in which one has done original research, as one presented by a candidate for a diploma or degree. |
| 4. | Music. the downward stroke in conducting; downbeat. Compare arsis (def. 1). |
| 5. | Prosody.
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| 6. | Philosophy. See under Hegelian dialectic. |
| an interpretive method, originally used to relate specific entities or events to the absolute idea, in which some assertible proposition (thesis) is necessarily opposed by an equally assertible and apparently contradictory proposition (antithesis), the mutual contradiction being reconciled on a higher level of truth by a third proposition (synthesis). |
| the·sis (thē'sĭs) n. pl. the·ses (-sēz)
[Latin, from Greek, from tithenai, to put; see dhē- in Indo-European roots. Senses 5 and 6, Middle English, from Late Latin, lowering of the voice, from Greek, downbeat, from tithenai.] |
The central idea in a piece of writing, sometimes contained in a topic sentence.
