treatise

noun

trea·​tise ˈtrē-təs 

 also  -təz

1

: a systematic exposition or argument in writing including a methodical discussion of the facts and principles involved and conclusions reached

a treatise on higher education

2

obsolete : account, tale

Examples of treatise in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture was not only a manual of the building arts but a treatise on how to extend and consolidate the Roman Empire, and lent itself all too well to the autocratic ambitions of Renaissance princes. —Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books, 24 Apr. 2025

His work is not a treatise on structural inevitability but an exploration of how human frailty, political misjudgment and moral decay can combine to unleash catastrophe. —Andrew Latham, The Conversation, 15 Apr. 2025

Then, in 1637, the French mathematician René Descartes published his treatise Discourse on the Method (opens a new tab). —Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025

The best recent commentaries on Marx’s nineteenth-century treatise register the uncanniness of twenty-first-century capitalism. —Benjamin Kunkel, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English tretis, from Anglo-French tretiz, alteration of tretez, traitet, from Medieval Latin tractatus, from Latin tractare to treat, handle

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for treatise

• fetus
• foetus
• meatus
• thetis
• caritas
• civitas
• cellulitis
• margaritas
• tonsillitis

Kids Definition

treatise

noun

trea·​tise ˈtrēt-əs 

: a book or article examining a subject carefully and completely