Meaning & use
thesis
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Meanings
nouncountable
The main idea or claim that an essay or article argues for and tries to prove.
Grammar: Countable: a clear thesis. Plural is theses.
Patterns
- state a thesis
- a thesis that ...
- thesis statement
Your thesis should appear in the first paragraph of the essay.
The author's central thesis is that cities can be both green and growing.
Her thesis was that sleep matters more than study time.
nouncountable
A long piece of written research submitted to earn a university degree, especially a master's or doctorate.
Grammar: In British English a doctoral one is called a thesis; in American English a master's one may be a thesis and a doctoral one a dissertation.
Patterns
- write a thesis
- defend a thesis
- a thesis on something
He spent two years writing his thesis on river pollution.
She will defend her thesis in front of three professors next week.
The library keeps a copy of every master's thesis.
nouncountabletechnical
In philosophy, a statement put forward as the first part of an argument before its opposite is considered.
Grammar: Used with antithesis and synthesis.
Patterns
- thesis and antithesis
The philosopher began with a thesis and then tested it against its opposite.
In his scheme, each thesis calls forth an antithesis.
The class studied thesis, antithesis and synthesis in the lecture on logic.
Word forms
| plural | theses |
|---|
Common combinations
- thesis statement
- Your thesis statement should be one clear sentence.
- doctoral thesis
- She published her doctoral thesis as a book.
- defend a thesis
- Students must defend their thesis before a panel.
- central thesis
- The central thesis of the book is that trade shaped culture.
- thesis supervisor
- His thesis supervisor suggested more interviews.
- support a thesis
- The data support the thesis that sleep aids memory.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dissertation
- A dissertation is a long research paper for a degree and in the US usually refers to a doctorate, while thesis may be the claim itself.
- argument
- An argument is the whole chain of reasoning, while a thesis is the single main claim it supports.
- proposition
- A proposition is a statement offered for consideration, while a thesis is one you plan to defend with evidence.
- hypothesis
- A hypothesis is a testable guess in science, while a thesis is a claim argued in writing.
Opposites
Word family
- thesis statement noun
- a sentence stating the main claim of an essay
- antithesis noun
- the direct opposite of something
- synthesis noun
- the combining of ideas into a whole
- hypothesis noun
- a proposed explanation to be tested
Commonly confused: thesis or theses? thesis or hypothesis?
thesis vs theses
Theses is the plural of thesis and is pronounced with the final sound like seas, not like a plural of thesis with -es spoken as a short vowel.
thesis vs hypothesis
A hypothesis is a guess to be tested by experiment, while a thesis is a claim argued in writing.
Practice
What is the plural of thesis?
Choose one answer.
Thesis comes from Greek and forms its plural as theses. Thesises is not standard and the other options are incorrect forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “thesis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.