Thesis

Research

Either the central arguable claim of a paper (thesis statement), or the long research document submitted for a degree.

Sources

1. Merriam-Webster — thesis merriam-webster.com accessed 23 September 2026

Merriam-Webster gives both academic senses: “a dissertation (as by a candidate for an academic degree) presenting results of original research and usually providing evidence to support a specific view”, and the sense of a central idea advanced for consideration or the statement introducing a written work’s main argument. From Greek tithenai, to put or lay down — the same root as hypothesis. First recorded in the fourteenth century, in a metrical sense. The shared root is apt: a thesis is what you lay down and then defend.

Merriam-Webster is cited as the dictionary of record: where an entry defines a word rather than a position, a dictionary is the primary source for it. The research usage described above is this lexicon’s own reading.

Deeper treatment: this term also has a full entry in the Business Library.

Related terms

• Abbreviation
• Abstract
• Abstraction
• Academic Database
• Analysis
• Annotation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).