a subject or topic dealt with in a discursive or artistic work and usu forming a unifying thread running through it
a unifying concept in the planning or design of something
(used before a noun) planned or designed around a single unifying concept
a theme pub
a group of notes or melody forming the basis of a musical composition; a subject
chiefly NAmer a written exercise; a composition
in linguistics, the stem1 (part that remains unchanged) of a word
the part of an utterance that contributes the least amount of new information to the evolving overall meaning
[Middle English teme, theme via Old French and Latinfrom Greek thema, literally ‘something laid down’, from tithenai to place]