topic definition

English

Alternative forms

• topick (obsolete)

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒpɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑpɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒpɪk
• Hyphenation: top‧ic

Adjective

topic

1. topical

Noun

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 54573970:

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

Synonyms

• (area of interest): subject, subject area

Derived terms

• -topic

Translations

Further reading

• topic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• topic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• cop it, optic, picot