Dictionary Definition
theme
Noun
1 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,
topic]
2 a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in
a literary or artistic work; "it was the usual `boy gets girl'
theme" [syn: motif]
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" [syn: melodic
theme, musical
theme, idea]
4 an essay (especially one written as an
assignment); "he got an A on his composition" [syn: composition, paper, report]
5 (linguistics) the form of a word after all
affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn:
root, root word,
base, stem, radical] v : provide with a
particular theme or motive; "the restaurant often themes its
menus"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -iːm
Etymology
From tesme (French: thème), from etyl la thema, from etyl grc θέμα, from τίθημι, reduplicative from (whence also English do).Noun
- a subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
- a recurring idea; a motif.
- the main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
- computing figurative The collection of color schemes, sounds, artwork etc., that "skin" an environment towards a particular motif.
- stem of a word
- thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb
- theta role in generative grammar and government and binding theory.
- topic, what is being talked about, as opposed to rheme
Translations
fixme=Translation table header lacks gloss
- trreq Albanian
- Arabic:
- Armenian: թեմա
- Bosnian: tema
- Chinese: 主題, 主题 (zhǔtí), 題材, 题材 (tícái)
- Croatian: tema
- Czech: téma
- Dutch: thema
- Esperanto: temo
- Finnish: aine, aihe, teema
- French: thème
- Georgian: თემა (t‘ema)
- German: Thema, Motiv
- Greek: θέμα
- Hebrew: עצם
- Hindi: प्रकरण
- Hungarian: tárgy, téma
- Italian: tema
- Japanese: 主題 (しゅだい, shudai), テーマ (tēma)
- Korean: 주제 (juje)
- Latin: thema
- Latvian: tēma
- Lithuanian: tema
- Mongolian: сэдэв (sêdêv)
- Norwegian: tema
- Persian: موضوع
- Portuguese: tema
- Russian: тема
- Serbian:
- Spanish: tema
- Swedish: tema
- Thai: (gàen rêuang)
- Turkish: konu
a subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a
topic.
- Hebrew: נושא
Related terms
Extensive Definition
Theme may refer to:
- Theme (music), the initial or principal melody in a musical piece
- Theme (literature), the unifying subject or idea of a story
- Theme (visual arts), the unifying subject or idea of a visual work
- Theme (Byzantine administrative unit), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos
- Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software, similar to a skin
- Theme (linguistics), that part of a sentence which indicates what is being talked about
- Theme (linguistics), is a Theta role in Generative grammar and Government and binding theory.
- Theme (linguistics), is a Thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb. Other thematic relations: agent, patient, etc.
- Theme (grammar), is a term sometimes used for the stem of a word.
- in Indo-European linguistics in particular, the term "thematic" is reserved for a particular class of Vowel stems.
- Theme music, signature music which recurs in a film, television program or performance
- Theme magazine
- Theme Building, a landmark building in Los Angeles International Airport
- Theming, the act of creating environments with artificial themes
- Theme (music) UK/Krakow, underground Experimental Electronic band.
Theme may also refer to:
- Motif (visual arts), a recurring theme or pattern in artwork
- Motif (literature), a recurring theme or pattern in literature
- In philology and linguistics, the inflexional base or stem of a word, consisting of the root with alteration or addition. See Word stem.
- Themes (Vangelis album), a compilation album from 1989 by Vangelis
- Themes (Clannad album), a compilation album from 1992 by Clannad
- Themes (Silent Stream of Godless Elegy album), a 2000 album by Moravian ethno metal band, Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy
Themes may also be associated with common
cultural events or experiences:
- Festive-themed objects, literature, or works of art
theme in Danish: Tema
theme in German: Thema
theme in Modern Greek (1453-): Θέμα
(αποσαφήνιση)
theme in Spanish: Tema
theme in French: Thème
theme in Korean: 테마
theme in Dutch: Thema
theme in Japanese: テーマ
theme in Romanian: Temă (dezambiguizare)
theme in Finnish: Teema
theme in Swedish: Tema
theme in Slovak: Téma
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
IC analysis, accidence, action, affix, affixation, allomorph, anagnorisis, angle, architectonics, architecture, argument, article, atmosphere, background, background
detail, basis, bound
morpheme, burden,
case, catastrophe, causerie, chapter, characterization,
color, complication, composition, concept, concern, conjugation, continuity, contrivance, core, cutting, declension, decorative
composition, decorative style, denouement, derivation, descant, design, detail, development, device, difference of form,
discourse, discussion, disquisition, dissertation, enclitic, episode, essay, essence, etude, examination, excursus, exercise, exposition, fable, falling action, feature, figure, first approach, focus of
attention, focus of interest, foil, foreground detail, form, formative, free form, gimmick, gist, head, heading, homily, idea, immediate constituent
analysis, incident,
infix, infixation, inflection, introductory
study, issue, keynote, leitmotiv, line, living issue, local color,
lucubration, main
point, matter, matter in
hand, meat, memoir, monograph, mood, morceau, morph, morpheme, morphemic analysis,
morphemics, morphology, morphophonemics,
motif, motive, movement, mythos, national style, note, notion, ornamental motif,
outline, pandect, paper, paradigm, paragraph, pattern, period style, peripeteia, phrase, piece, plan, plot, point, point at issue, point in
question, prefix,
prefixation,
preliminary study, problem, proclitic, prolegomenon, question, radical, recognition, repeated
figure, research paper, review, rising action, root, rubric, scheme, screed, secondary plot, setting, sketch, slant, special article, stem, story, structure, study, style, subject, subject matter, subject
of thought, subplot,
substance, suffix, suffixation, survey, switch, term paper, text, thematic development,
thesis, thread, tone, topic, touch, tract, tractate, treatise, treatment, twist,
word-formation