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 Examples of treatise in a Sentence Recent Examples on the Web Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback. 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 In the treatise, the author writes that the poem, which pertains to the birth of the gods, should be taken as an allegory rather than literally. —Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Jan. 2025 The movie tries so hard to put forth a sweeping treatise on the paradox of a Black bodybuilder, to be a study of Black masculinity. —Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2025 Fitzgerald first encountered Kaczynski’s treatise in July 1995, shortly after Kaczynski anonymously mailed the typewritten manuscript to The Times and The Washington Post, demanding its publication in exchange for his promise to stop killing people with package bombs. —Charles Homans, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for treatise Word HistoryEtymology
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
Time Traveler
The first known use of treatise was in the 14th century Cite this Entry“Treatise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatise. Accessed 10 May. 2025.
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