topic
nounEtymology 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”).
1
A subject; a 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
3 more examples
- an interesting topic of conversation
- romance is a topic that frequently comes up in conversation
- The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy.2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
2
Internet A discussion thread.
- If after the update you still run into bugs or odd behavior, please report them in the appropriate Steam Community thread or the relevant Discord channel/topic.2026 February 11, “Hotfix #11”, in Pathologic 3 Events, Ice-Pick Lodge, via Steam Community, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2026:
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A component similar to a message queue which supports multiple subscribers.
4
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A musical sign intended to suggest a particular style or genre.
- In Peircean terms, topics are interpretants: signifieds that become new signifiers in the endless semiotic chain of interpretations.2012, Esti Sheinberg, Music Semiotics, page 9:
5
Obsolete An argument or reason.
- contumacious persons, who are not to be fixed by any principles, whom no topics can work upon1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principle and Duties of Natural Religion:
6
Medicine, Sciences Obsolete An external local application or remedy, such as a plaster, a blister, etc.
- Amongst topics or outward medicines none are more precious than baths.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
- Synonyms
- subject, subject area
- Derived terms
- bitopic, drop the topic, intertopic, metatopic, multitopic, off-topic, off topic, on topic, on-topic, subtopic, supertopic, -topic, topical, topicless, topic map, topic of conversation, topic sentence, topicwise, topicworthy