subject matter

noun

1. the substance of a discussion, book, writing, etc., as distinguished from its form or style.
2. the matter that is subject to some action.
3. the matter out of which a thing is formed.

subject matter

noun

1. the substance or main theme of a book, discussion, debate, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of subject matter¹

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

Offbeat though it is, Anatomica is a unique document of a slice of human history that would be welcome on any art lover’s bookshelf thanks to its approachable format and relatable, deep-rooted subject matter.

From Popular-Science

The reason for this is that your image file name will be used to help Google understand what the subject matter of the image is.

From Search Engine Watch

Every new blog adds a new page to your website, giving search engines more reason to re-crawl your website to find new subject matter.

From Search Engine Watch

The only problem—one that might say less about director Mahalia Belo’s aesthetic instincts than it does about the BBC period-drama factory—is bland direction that feels inappropriate to the subject matter.

From Time

So one of the cool things about PROS is they have so many fantastic thought leaders and subject matter experts internally.

From Search Engine Land

While not light reading, this indispensable work contains within it a picture of America that expands beyond its subject matter.

From The Daily Beast

Forgács prefers a Western audience open to his subject matter and wealthy enough to fund it.

From The Daily Beast

Hers is a particular brand of essay: writing at its most crystal clear, subject matter at its most slippery and interesting.

From The Daily Beast

Scale and subject matter guaranteed that F-111 would command attention.

From The Daily Beast

With Camp X-Ray, this is pretty heavy subject matter here in Gitmo.

From The Daily Beast

These were called Ideas; and ideas are the basis of his system, or rather the subject-matter of dialectics.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus they soon learn to read with due regard to expression, and therefore take a livelier interest in the subject-matter.

From Project Gutenberg

Did you say anything about the fact that he had already just called you about the same subject matter?

From Project Gutenberg

If then the purpose of classical rhetoric was to come as near persuasion as it could, what was its subject matter?

From Project Gutenberg

An understanding of classical rhetoric can be gained only by a study of its purpose, subject-matter, and content.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• subject
• text
• topic