topic sentence

or topical sentence


noun
  1. a sentence that expresses the essential idea of a paragraph or larger section, usually appearing at the beginning.

Origin of topic sentence

1
First recorded in 1915–20

Words Nearby topic sentence

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use topic sentence in a sentence

  • Frame a sentence which you think would be an adequate topic sentence for the whole piece.

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
  • In this paragraph every sentence is a repetition of some part of the opening or topic sentence, and serves to explain it.

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
  • Is his last sentence, in case it is a repetition of the topic, longer or shorter than the topic sentence?

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
  • In these cases the topic-sentence follows the transition, and it may come as late as the middle of the paragraph.

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
  • Below are four paragraphs, from different forms of discourse, all having the topic-sentence at the beginning.

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster

British Dictionary definitions for topic sentence

topic sentence

noun
  1. a sentence in a paragraph that expresses the main idea or point of the whole paragraph

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for topic sentence

topic sentence

The main sentence in a paragraph, often the first sentence. It briefly conveys the essential idea of the paragraph.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.