thesis

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
thesis /ˈθiːsɪs/

▶noun (pl. theses /-siːz/)

• 1 a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.

  ■ (in Hegelian philosophy) a proposition forming the first stage in the process of dialectical reasoning.

  Compare with antithesis, synthesis.

• 2 a long essay or dissertation involving personal research, written as part of a university degree.

• 3 also /ˈθɛsɪs/ Prosody an unstressed syllable or part of a metrical foot in Greek or Latin verse. Often contrasted with arsis.

– origin ME: via late L. from Gk, lit. ‘placing, a proposition’, from the root of tithenai ‘to place’.