Etymology From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do). Doublet of thema.
A subject, now especially of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
"Had not you once a beautiful daughter, named Mary?" said the stranger. "It is a heartrending question, man," said Andrew; "but certes, I had once a beloved daughter named Mary." "What became of her?" asked the stranger. Andrew shook his head, turned round, and began to move away; it was a theme that his heart could not brook.1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet:
› A recurring idea; a motif.
2
A concept with multiple instantiations.
variations on the theme of entrepreneurial resourcefulness
3
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.
Father Dolan came in today and pandied me because I was not writing my theme.1917, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:
[…] his themes and exercises were in constant demand for what we called cogging and American students rather grandly called plagiarization.1979, Tri-Quarterly, numbers 46-47, page 273:
5
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
6
Broadcasting, Film, Media, Television, Video games A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
7
An additional puzzle within the crossword, typically involving a set of non-standard clues or answers.
Etymology From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do). Doublet of thema.
1
To give a theme to.
We themed the birthday party around superheroes.
2
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).