thesis

noun7

1. •
   A proposition or statement supported by arguments.
2. •
   A lengthy essay written to establish the validity of a thesis, especially one submitted in order to complete the requirements for a non-doctoral degree in the US and a doctoral degree in the UK; a dissertation.

   • I told them of the grave, becoming, and sublime deportment they should assume upon this mystical occasion, and read them two homilies and a thesis of my own composing, in order to prepare them. — 1766
3. •
   An affirmation, or distinction from a supposition or hypothesis.
4. •
   In the dialectical method of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: the initial stage of reasoning where a formal statement of a point is developed; this is followed by antithesis and synthesis.
5. •
   A conjecture, especially one too vague to be formally stated or verified but useful as a working convention.
6. •
   The action of lowering the hand or bringing down the foot when indicating a rhythm; hence, an accented part of a measure of music or verse indicated by this action; an ictus, a stress.
7. •
   A depression of the voice when pronouncing a syllables of a word; hence, the unstressed part of the metrical foot of a verse upon which such a depression falls, or an unaccented musical note.