the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
He didn't want to discuss that subject. It was a very sensitive topic. His letters were always on the theme of love.
source: WordNet 3.0
some situation or event that is thought about
He kept drifting off the topic. He had been thinking about the subject for several years. It is a matter for the police.
source: WordNet 3.0
One of the various general forms of argument employed in probable as distinguished from demonstrative reasoning, -- denominated by Aristotle to`poi (literally, places), as being the places or sources from which arguments may be derived, or to which they may be referred; also, a prepared form of argument, applicable to a great variety of cases, with a supply of which the ancient rhetoricians and orators provided themselves; a commonplace of argument or oratory.
