Definition of the word topic

Last Updated:
8 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

I’ve been setting the value fo the parent using passed URL params when the template is used to create a page. % META { «parent» format = «$topic» dontrecurse = «on»} % displays the parent of a topic: ❋ Unknown (2010)

$topic (35, …) to truncate overly long topic names. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Chinese friends become silent when a certain topic is mentioned, or dismiss it with a few words. ❋ Unknown (2008)

David Mamet does not so much explore the title topic of his new play as eviscerate it. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Blogs and bloggers are everywhere on the net, no topic is short for them. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Just because some oversensitive misreading obsessives chose to launch flames at me for speaking the truth on subjects clearly within the title topic of “New Rape Culture and Gender Thread” makes them inflamed, not my posts inflammatory. ❋ Unknown (2005)

Description: Transcript, 50 pp. Abstract: The main topic is institutions in computing. ❋ Unknown (1984)

Well, of course it’s about the title topic, but in the process we’re given the chance to ramble through a number of highways and byways that sometimes seem to have only a limited connection to the subject. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Laura should have kept the focus on the title topic instead of the stupid red herring about weight … ❋ Unknown (2009)

On to the title topic: the power of positive thinking. ❋ Unknown (2009)

So we at last arrive at the title topic: which government service are YOU willing to give up? ❋ Unknown (2008)

Physical Description: 6′1″, folio [individual will come to your office or lunch for a discussion of the title topic] ❋ Unknown (2008)

I think the discussion on the topic is a bit too much closed to the episone and too much far away from the backgroud. ❋ Unknown (2010)

This topic is about GLENN BECK telling people to run away from Churches who teach social justice, and a lone church who stood up to him. ❋ Unknown (2010)

If the topic is the economy, Romney is willing to weigh in. ❋ Dan Balz (2010)

While I understand the rationale, and I think a lot of folks can accept the same when told, in the absence of any explanation, people tend to believe that the thread was locked because the topic is a no-no. ❋ Unknown (2009)

While many are rightly concerned about the lack of belief in the Real Presence at their parishes, what often arises out of the discussions on this topic is the only-too-common exclusion, even denial of, not only the paramount importance, but even the importance at all of the sacred liturgy in asserting a solution. ❋ Unknown (2009)

We do live in a “World on Fire” (with nods to Thomas Sowell and Amy Chua) so the topic is always difficult, but no hypothesis should be off-limits because the consequences of following the wrong prescriptions based on bad science is worse. ❋ Unknown (2010)

[Make] a topic about [monkeys]. ❋ Hfs (2003)

[Topic]: [Chippy] loves [men]! ❋ Jux (2005)

omg you [fackin] [newbs]! [stay] on topic! ❋ Chippy (2004)

[Yo], what’s the topic? ❋ 25IMF (2019)

[The news] continues to topicate about [OJ Simpson] and the real [killer]. I wanted to hear something different this week. ❋ MIDEVILPRO (2013)

Joel: Hey [C-dawg]! Did ya hear about [Brangelina’s] breakup?
Chad: Yeah, I’m heart-broken brother!
Joel: Man, you are so topic! [That thang] only happened just a week ago. ❋ Joel4prez (2016)

[Oliva]; [Elma] did the funniest thing today!!! 🤣🤣🤣
[Exavier]; That girl is a whole topic. ❋ Elmo❤️ (2019)

Let’s go [to Hot] Topic, and not [rebel] against anything, but rather buy some clothing [articles], like we would in any other clothing store. ❋ Adam (2004)

[I follow] political [news] so [politics] is one pet topic of mine ❋ Icaro (2013)

[Prep]/Goth/Punk/[Skater] etc… there all just [labels]. Be who YOU want to be, and respect those who choose to be different then you. ❋ Aaron (2004)

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• topick (obsolete)

Etymology[edit]

From Latin topica, from Ancient Greek τοπικός (topikós, “pertaining to a place, local, pertaining to a common place, or topic, topical”), from τόπος (tópos, “a place”), of Pre-Greek origin.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒpɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑpɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɒpɪk
• Hyphenation: top‧ic

Adjective[edit]

topic

1. topical

Noun[edit]

topic (plural topics)

1. Subject; theme; a category or general area of interest.

   A society where a topic cannot be discussed, does not have free speech.

   stick to the topic

   an interesting topic of conversation

   romance is a topic that frequently comes up in conversation

   • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy.

2. (Internet) Discussion thread.
3. (music) A musical sign intended to suggest a particular style or genre.
   • 2012, Esti Sheinberg, Music Semiotics (page 9)

     In Peircean terms, topics are interpretants: signifieds that become new signifiers in the endless semiotic chain of interpretations.

4. (obsolete) An argument or reason.
   • 1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principle and Duties of Natural Religion

     contumacious persons, who are not to be fixed by any principles, whom no topics can work upon

5. (obsolete, medicine) An external local application or remedy, such as a plaster, a blister, etc.

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     Amongst topics or outward medicines none are more precious than baths.

Synonyms[edit]

• (area of interest): subject, subject area

Derived terms[edit]

• -topic

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• topic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “topic”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams[edit]

• cop it, optic, picot

A topic—From the Greek, «place»—is a particular issue or idea that serves as the subject of a paragraph, essay, report, or speech.

The primary topic of a paragraph may be expressed in a topic sentence. The main topic of an essay, report, or speech may be expressed in a thesis sentence.

An essay topic, say Kirszner and Mandell, «should be narrow enough so that you can write about it within your page limit. If your topic is too broad, you will not be able to treat it in enough detail.»
—Concise Wadsworth Handbook, 2014.

«Whether you are choosing from a list provided by your instructor or selecting your own, you should try to work with a topic that interests you and that you care about.»
​—Robert DiYanni and Pat C. Hoy II, The Scribner Handbook for Writers. Allyn and Bacon, 2001

Things to Write About

«What things there are to write if one could only write them! My mind is full of gleaming thoughts; gay moods and mysterious, moth-like meditations hover in my imagination, fanning their painted wings. They would make my fortune if I could catch them; but always the rarest, those freaked with azure and the deepest crimson, flutter away beyond my reach.»
—Logan Pearsall Smith, More Trivia, 1921

Finding a Good Topic

«Any topic you choose to write about should pass the following test:

— Does this topic interest me? If so, why do I care about it?
— Do I know something about it? Do I want to know more?
— Can I get involved with some part of it? Is it relevant to my life in some way?
— Is it specific enough for a short essay?»
—Susan Anker, Real Essays with Readings: Writing Projects for College, Work, and Everyday Life, 3rd ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009

Narrowing Your Topic

«Topics with a limited, or specific, scope are easier to explain carefully and in detail than topics that are vague, amorphous, or very broad. For example, general subjects such as mountains, automobiles, or music sound systems are so broad that it’s hard to know where to begin. However, a specific aspect of sound systems, such as compact discs (CDs) is easier. Within the subject of CDs, of course, there are several topics as well (design, manufacturing process, cost, marketing, sound quality, comparison to tape and vinyl recordings, etc.).»
—Toby Fulwiler and Alan R. Hayakawa, The Blair Handbook. Prentice Hall, 2003

Selecting a Topic for a Research Paper

«You choose a topic for the research paper much as you would for any other essay: You browse the library’s book collection, surf the Net, or talk to experts, friends, and fellow students. The only difference is that now you need a meatier topic, one that you can cover in eight to ten pages and back up with reference sources.»

«The writer Sheridan Baker suggests that every good topic has an argumentative edge that needs to be proved or disproved. For example, the topic ‘contagious diseases of the past,’ admittedly overly broad and bland, can be honed to an argumentative edge by a little rewording: ‘the Black Death: reducer of overpopulation in Europe.’ This is now a topic with an edge that gives you something to prove. Instead of calling for a summary of major contagious diseases, it hints that they served some useful purpose by controlling the population. This is a controversial outlook that will give your paper the energy of an argumentative edge.»
—Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell and Anthony C. Winkler, From Idea to Essay: A Rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook, 12th ed. Wadsworth, 2009

Selecting a Topic for a Speech

«To choose the one topic you will speak about, think about the audience and the occasion. There are two more questions you can ask yourself at this point:

— What does the audience expect? (audience)

— What might the audience expect on the day you speak? (occasion)»

«Knowing who your audience is and why its members are gathered together can help you rule out a number of topics. A speech on the fluctuating gold market could be interesting, but not to a class of seventh-graders at an assembly just before summer vacation.»

«When you have removed the inappropriate subjects from your list, find the most appropriate of the remainder. Empathize with your audience. What topic do you think would be worth your time to hear?»
—Jo Sprague, Douglas Stuart, and David Bodary, The Speaker’s Handbook, 9th ed. Wadsworth, 2010