topic sentence

or topical sentence


noun

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

Origin of topic sentence

First recorded in 1915–20

Words nearby topic sentence

Example sentences from the Web for topic sentence

British Dictionary definitions for topic sentence

topic sentence

noun

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

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.