Definition of THEME

theme

Plural: themes

Noun

  • the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
    • "his letters were always on the theme of love"
  • a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work
    • "it was the usual `boy gets girl' theme"
  • (music) melodic subject of a musical composition
    • "the theme is announced in the first measures"
  • an essay (especially one written as an assignment)
  • (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed
  • A subject, now especially of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
  • A recurring idea; a motif.
  • A concept with multiple instantiations.
  • A recurring idea; a motif.
  • Any of various colors, or color palettes, in which a design is offered; (graphical user interface) any of various skins for an app, affecting the visuals and perhaps other elements such as sound effects.
  • An essay written for school.
  • The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
  • A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
  • An additional puzzle within the crossword, typically involving a set of non-standard clues or answers.
  • The 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 generally being talked about.
  • A regional unit of organisation in the Byzantine empire.

Verb

Verb Forms: themed, theming, themes

  • To plan or design something around a central subject.
  • provide with a particular theme or motive
    • "the restaurant often themes its menus"
  • To give a theme to.
  • To apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).

Examples

  • He tried to THEME his plays around vowel dumps in Words With Friends, but it rarely worked out.
  • switch to a dark theme to conserve battery power
  • variations on the theme of entrepreneurial resourcefulness
  • We themed the birthday party around superheroes.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “I put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do). Doublet of thema.

Synonyms

base, composition, idea, melodic theme, motif, musical theme, paper, radical, report, root, root word, stem, subject, topic, colorway

Scrabble Score: 10

theme: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
theme: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
theme: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

theme: valid Words With Friends Word