theme (
http://definr.com/theme)
n 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: 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]