topic

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See also: topić, tòpic, topíc, Topič, and topič

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Adjective

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topic

  1. topical

Noun

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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. (computing) A component similar to a message queue which supports multiple subscribers.
  4. (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.
  5. (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
  6. (obsolete, medicine) An external local application or remedy, such as a plaster, a blister, etc.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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