theme / [unvoicedth]ēm/ • n. 1. the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic: the theme of the sermon was reverence a show on the theme of waste and recycling. ∎  Linguistics the first major constituent of a clause, indicating the subject-matter, typically being the subject but optionally other constituents, as in “poor he is not.” Contrasted with rheme. ∎  an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature. ∎  Mus. a prominent or frequently recurring melody or group of notes in a composition. ∎  [as adj.] (of music) frequently recurring in or accompanying the beginning and end of a film, play, or musical: a theme song. ∎  a setting or ambience given to a leisure venue or activity: a family fun park with a western theme. ∎  [as adj.] denoting a restaurant or bar in which the decor and the food and drink served are intended to suggest a particular foreign country, historical period, or other ambience: a New Deal theme restaurant. ∎  [in comb.] (-themed) (mainly in journalism) characterized by a theme or pervasive influence: a golf-themed business park. ∎  an essay written by a student on an assigned subject.2. Linguistics the stem of a noun or verb; the part to which inflections are added, esp. one composed of the root and an added vowel.3. hist. any of the twenty-nine provinces in the Byzantine empire.• v. [tr.] give a particular setting or ambience to (a venue or activity): [as adj.] (themed) Independence Day was celebrated with special themed menus [in comb.] a golf-themed business park. ORIGIN: Middle English: via Old French from Latin thema, from Greek, literally ‘proposition’; related to tithenai ‘to set or place.’

theme. Succession of notes which play important part in construction of a comp. Same as subject, but also refers to part of a subject. In Theme and Variations, means the mus. statement on which variations are built. Theme-song is an unspecific term with several meanings, e.g. in a mus. play or film, a theme-song is a song which recurs several times, or has a special significance in a plot, or is the song from which the play takes its title. Also, tune assoc. with a variety artist and played when he or she comes on to the stage to perform is called his or her ‘theme song’, like signature-tune.

theme subject of a discourse XIII; exercise. essay XVI; inflexional base or stem. ME. teme — OF. *teme (tesme) — L. thēma (to which it was soon conformed in sp.) — Gr. théma proposition. f. *the- base of tithénai place (see DO1).
So thematic XVIII. — Gr. thematikós.