a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic: The need for world peace was the theme of the meeting.
2.
a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art.
3.
a short, informal essay, esp. a school composition.
4.
Music.
a.
a principal melodic subject in a musical composition.
b.
a short melodic subject from which variations are developed.
5.
Grammar. the element common to all or most of the forms of an inflectional paradigm, often consisting of a root with certain formative elements or modifications. Compare stem1(def. 16).
The subject of a speech, essay, thesis, or discourse.
A subject of discussion or conversation.
A subdivision of a theme, thesis, or outline. See Synonyms at subject.
Linguistics A word or phrase in a sentence, usually providing information from previous discourse or shared knowledge, that the rest of the sentence elaborates or comments on. Also called theme.
[Obsolete topic, rhetorical argument, sing. of Topics, title of a work by Aristotle, from Latin Topica, from Greek Topika, commonplaces, from neuter pl. of topikos, of a place, from topos, place.]
c.1300, from O.Fr. tesme (13c., with silent -s-), from L. thema "a subject, thesis," from Gk. thema "a proposition, subject, deposit," lit. "something set down," from root of tithenai "put down, place," from PIE base *dhe- "to put, to do" (see doom). Extension to music first recorded 1674; theme song first attested 1929. Theme park is from 1960.
the subject matter of a conversation or discussion; "he didn't want to discuss that subject"; "it was a very sensitive topic"; "his letters were always on the theme of love" [syn: subject]
2.
a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work; "it was the usual 'boy gets girl' theme"
3.
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"
4.
an essay (especially one written as an assignment); "he got an A on his composition" [syn: composition]
5.
(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn: root]
verb
1.
provide with a particular theme or motive; "the restaurant often themes its menus"
A central idea in a piece of writing or other work of art: “The theme of desperation is found throughout his novels.” Also a short composition assigned to a student as a writing exercise.
Do\, v. t. or auxiliary. [imp. Din; p. p. Done; p. pr. & vb. n. Doing. This verb, when transitive, is formed in the indicative, present tense, thus: I do, thou doest (?) or dost ?, he does (?), doeth (?), or doth (?); when auxiliary, the second person is, thou dost. As an independent verb, dost is obsolete or rare, except in poetry. "What dost thou in this world?" --Milton. The form doeth is a verb unlimited, doth, formerly so used, now being the auxiliary form. The second pers, sing., imperfect tense, is didst (?), formerly didest (?).] [AS. d?n; akin to D. doen, OS. duan, OHG. tuon, G. thun, Lith. deti, OSlav. d?ti, OIr. d['e]nim I do, Gr. ? to put, Skr. dh[=a], and to E. suffix -dom, and prob. to L. facere to do, E. fact, and perh. to L. -dere in some compounfds, as addere to add, credere to trust. ??? Cf. Deed, Deem, Doom, Fact, Creed, Theme.]1. To place; to put. [Obs.] --Tale of a Usurer (about 1330). 2. To cause; to make; -- with an infinitive. [Obs.] My lord Abbot of Westminster did do shewe to me late certain evidences. --W. Caxton. I shall . . . your cloister do make. --Piers Plowman. A fatal plague which many did to die. --Spenser. We do you to wit [i. e., We make you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. --2 Cor. viii. 1. Note: We have lost the idiom shown by the citations (do used like the French faire or laisser), in which the verb in the infinitive apparently, but not really, has a passive signification, i. e., cause . . . to be made. 3. To bring about; to produce, as an effect or result; to effect; to achieve. The neglecting it may do much danger. --Shak. He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good not harm. --Shak. 4. To perform, as an action; to execute; to transact to carry out in action; as, to do a good or a bad act; do our duty; to do what I can. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. --Ex. xx. 9. We did not do these things. --Ld. Lytton. You can not do wrong without suffering wrong. --Emerson. Hence: To do homage, honor, favor, justice, etc., to render homage, honor, etc. 5. To bring to an end by action; to perform completely; to finish; to accomplish; -- a sense conveyed by the construction, which is that of the past participle done. "Ere summer half be done." "I have done weeping." --Shak. 6. To make ready for an object, purpose, or use, as food by cooking; to cook completely or sufficiently; as, the meat is done on one side only. 7. To put or bring into a form, state, or condition, especially in the phrases, to do death, to put to death; to slay; to do away (often do away with), to put away; to remove; to do on, to put on; to don; to do off, to take off, as dress; to doff; to do into, to put into the form of; to translate or transform into, as a text. Done to death by slanderous tongues. -- Shak. The ground of the difficulty is done away. -- Paley. Suspicions regarding his loyalty were entirely done away. --Thackeray. To do on our own harness, that we may not; but we must do on the armor of God. -- Latimer. Then Jason rose and did on him a fair Blue woolen tunic. -- W. Morris (Jason). Though the former legal pollution be now done off, yet there is a spiritual contagion in idolatry as much to be shunned. --Milton. It ["Pilgrim's Progress"] has been done into verse: it has been done into modern English. -- Macaulay. 8. To cheat; to gull; to overreach. [Colloq.] He was not be done, at his time of life, by frivolous offers of a compromise that might have secured him seventy-five per cent. -- De Quincey. 9. To see or inspect; to explore; as, to do all the points of interest. [Colloq.] 10. (Stock Exchange) To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note. Note: (a) Do and did are much employed as auxiliaries, the verb to which they are joined being an infinitive. As an auxiliary the verb do has no participle. "I do set my bow in the cloud." --Gen. ix. 13. [Now archaic or rare except for emphatic assertion.] Rarely . . . did the wrongs of individuals to the knowledge of the public. -- Macaulay. (b) They are often used in emphatic construction. "You don't say so, Mr. Jobson. -- but I do say so." --Sir W. Scott. "I did love him, but scorn him now." --Latham. (c) In negative and interrogative constructions, do and did are in common use. I do not wish to see them; what do you think? Did C[ae]sar cross the Tiber? He did not. "Do you love me?" --Shak. (d) Do, as an auxiliary, is supposed to have been first used before imperatives. It expresses entreaty or earnest request; as, do help me. In the imperative mood, but not in the indicative, it may be used with the verb to be; as, do be quiet. Do, did, and done often stand as a general substitute or representative verb, and thus save the repetition of the principal verb. "To live and die is all we have to do." --Denham. In the case of do and did as auxiliaries, the sense may be completed by the infinitive (without to) of the verb represented. "When beauty lived and died as flowers do now." --Shak. "I . . . chose my wife as she did her wedding gown." --Goldsmith. My brightest hopes giving dark fears a being. As the light does the shadow. -- Longfellow. In unemphatic affirmative sentences do is, for the most part, archaic or poetical; as, "This just reproach their virtue does excite." --Dryden. To do one's best, To do one's diligence (and the like), to exert one's self; to put forth one's best or most or most diligent efforts. "We will . . . do our best to gain their assent." --Jowett (Thucyd.). To do one's business, to ruin one. [Colloq.] --Wycherley. To do one shame, to cause one shame. [Obs.] To do over. (a) To make over; to perform a second time. (b) To cover; to spread; to smear. "Boats . . . sewed together and done over with a kind of slimy stuff like rosin." --De Foe. To do to death, to put to death. (See 7.) [Obs.] To do up. (a) To put up; to raise. [Obs.] --Chaucer. (b) To pack together and envelop; to pack up. (c) To accomplish thoroughly. [Colloq.] (d) To starch and iron. "A rich gown of velvet, and a ruff done up with the famous yellow starch." --Hawthorne. To do way, to put away; to lay aside. [Obs.] --Chaucer. To do with, to dispose of; to make use of; to employ; -- usually preceded by what. "Men are many times brought to that extremity, that were it not for God they would not know what to do with themselves." --Tillotson. To have to do with, to have concern, business or intercourse with; to deal with. When preceded by what, the notion is usually implied that the affair does not concern the person denoted by the subject of have. "Philology has to do with language in its fullest sense." --Earle. "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? --2 Sam. xvi. 10.
The*mat"ic\, a. [Gr. ?: cf. F. th['e]matique.]1. (Gram.) Of or pertaining to the theme of a word. See Theme, n., 4. 2. (Mus.) Of or pertaining to a theme, or subject. Thematic catalogue (Mus.), a catalogue of musical works which, besides the title and other particulars, gives in notes the theme, or first few measures, of the whole work or of its several movements.
Theme\, n. [OE. teme, OF. teme, F. th[`e]me, L. thema, Gr. ?, fr. ? to set, place. See Do, and cf. Thesis.]1. A subject or topic on which a person writes or speaks; a proposition for discussion or argument; a text. My theme is alway one and ever was. --Chaucer. And when a soldier was the theme, my name Was not far off. --Shak. 2. Discourse on a certain subject. Then ran repentance and rehearsed his theme. --Piers Plowman. It was the subject of my theme. --Shak. 3. A composition or essay required of a pupil. --Locke. 4. (Gram.) 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. 5. That by means of which a thing is done; means; instrument. [Obs.] --Swift. 6. (Mus.) The leading subject of a composition or a movement.
The"sis\, n.; pl. Theses. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to place, set. See Do, and cf. Anathema, Apothecary, Epithet, Hypothesis, Parenthesis, Theme, Tick a cover.]1. A position or proposition which a person advances and offers to maintain, or which is actually maintained by argument. 2. Hence, an essay or dissertation written upon specific or definite theme; especially, an essay presented by a candidate for a diploma or degree. I told them of the grave, becoming, and sublime deportment they should assume upon this mystical occasion, and read them two homilies and a thesis of my own composing, to prepare them. --Goldsmith. 3. (Logic) An affirmation, or distinction from a supposition or hypothesis. 4. (Mus.) The accented part of the measure, expressed by the downward beat; -- the opposite of arsis. 5. (Pros.) (a) The depression of the voice in pronouncing the syllables of a word. (b) The part of the foot upon which such a depression falls.
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Audio Help [theem] Pronunciation Key noun, adjective, verb, themed, them·ing. 
