What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Scheme vs Theme - What's the difference?

scheme | theme |

As nouns the difference between scheme and theme

is that scheme is a systematic plan of future action while theme is a subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.

As verbs the difference between scheme and theme

is that scheme is to plot, or contrive a plan while theme is to apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).

As a proper noun Scheme

is a programming language, one of the two major dialects of Lisp.

scheme

English

(wikipedia scheme)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A systematic plan of future action.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=Ideas coming down the track, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • A plot or secret, devious plan.
  • An orderly combination of related parts.
  • * John Locke
  • the appearance and outward scheme of things
  • * Atterbury
  • such a scheme of things as shall at once take in time and eternity
  • * J. Edwards
  • arguments sufficient to support and demonstrate a whole scheme of moral philosophy
  • * Macaulay
  • The Revolution came and changed his whole scheme of life.
  • A chart or diagram of a system or object.
  • * South
  • to draw an exact scheme of Constantinople, or a map of France
  • (mathematics) A type of topological space.
  • (UK, chiefly, Scotland) A council housing estate.
  • * 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 101:
  • It was all too dear. They all just put their prices up because it was out in the scheme .
  • (rhetoric) An artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words.
  • (astrology) A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • a blue case, from which was drawn a scheme of nativity
  • Part of a uniform resource identifier indicating the protocol or other purpose, such as http: or news:.
  • Usage notes

    In the US, generally has devious connotations, while in the UK, frequently used as a neutral term for projects: “The road is closed due to a pavement-widening scheme.”

    Synonyms

    * (a systematic plan of future action) blueprint

    Verb

    (schem)
  • To plot, or contrive a plan.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=April 26 , author=Tasha Robinson , title=Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits : , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek. }}

    References

    * ----

    theme

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
  • A recurring idea; a motif.
  • (music) The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
  • (film, television) A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
  • (computing, figuratively) The collection of color schemes, sounds, artwork etc., that "skin" an environment towards a particular motif.
  • (grammar) The stem of a word
  • (linguistics) thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb
  • (linguistics) Theta role in generative grammar and government and binding theory.
  • (linguistics) Topic, what is generally being talked about, as opposed to rheme
  • A regional unit of organisation in the Byzantine empire.
  • Verb

    (them)
  • (computing) To apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).