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What is the difference between topic and subject?

topic | subject | Synonyms |

Subject is a synonym of topic.



As adjectives the difference between topic and subject

is that topic is topical while subject is likely to be affected by or to experience something.

As nouns the difference between topic and subject

is that topic is subject; theme; a category or general area of interest while subject is in a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) that is dealt with. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same.

As a verb subject is

to cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.

topic

English

(wikipedia topic)

Alternative forms

* topick (obsolete)

Adjective

  • (l)

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • Subject; theme; a category or general area of interest.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.}}
  • (Internet) Discussion thread.
  • (obsolete) An argument or reason.
  • * Bishop Wilkins
    • contumacious persons, who are not to be fixed by any principles, whom no topics can work upon
  • (obsolete, medicine) An external local application or remedy, such as a plaster, a blister, etc.
    • (Wiseman)

    Synonyms

    * subject

    Derived terms

    * topical * subtopic * off-topic * topic map

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * * *

    subject

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Likely to be affected by or to experience something.
    • a country subject to extreme heat
  • * Dryden
    • All human things are subject to decay.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • Conditional upon.
  • Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
    • (Spenser)
  • Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
  • * John Locke
    • Esau was never subject to Jacob.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) In a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) that is dealt with. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same.
  • The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
    • the subject for heroic song
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
    • Make choice of a subject , beautiful and noble, which shall afford an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • the unhappy subject of these quarrels
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=5 citation , passage=Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
    • , chapter=5, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=The departure was not unduly prolonged.
  • A particular area of study.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • A citizen in a monarchy.
  • A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
  • (label) The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
  • * (1823-1895)
    • The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus , or plain song.
  • A human, animal or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc.
  • * (Conyers Middleton) (1683-1750)
    • Writers of particular livesare apt to be prejudiced in favour of their subject .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field.}}

    Synonyms

    * (discussion) matter, topic

    Derived terms

    * subject title

    See also

    * object * predicate

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.

    • Synonyms

    *

    Statistics

    *

    External links

    * * English heteronyms 1000 English basic words