motif
Pluralmotifs
- 1A recurring or dominant element in a work of art, music, or literature; an artistic theme.
Loneliness emerges as the central motif of the novel.
Recurring motifs of light and darkness structure the entire trilogy.
Note
The French loan behind every other use of the word: French motif already carried the meaning "main idea or theme" (1848), and it is a doublet of motive. The same source reached English twice, once as what moves a person and once as what keeps returning in a work. Critics speak of a central motif or of recurring motifs, usually naming the image itself: a scroll motif, motifs of light and darkness.
- 2
- 3A short melodic or lyrical passage repeated in several parts of a musical work.
The composer develops a single motif throughout the entire symphony.
Listeners can recognize the opera by its opening motif.
Note
In musical analysis it names the smallest unit that keeps its identity while it is repeated and transformed: a few notes or a rhythm, smaller than a theme and used to build one. Composers are said to develop a motif rather than simply repeat it, because it returns altered in pitch, rhythm or harmony and is still recognizable. The general artistic sense is this idea widened to any art.
- 4A decorative appliqué figure, often of lace or velvet, sewn onto fabric as trimming.
The seamstress applied a delicate lace motif to each sleeve.
Beaded motifs were sewn across the bodice of the wedding gown.
Note
A dressmaker's motif is an object, not a drawing. It is a separately worked piece, often cut from lace, velvet or embroidered fabric, and then applied to a garment or furnishing as trimming. That is the difference from the repeated pattern figure, which belongs to the surface of the design itself. Motifs are sewn on, appliquéd, or scattered across a sleeve or bodice.
- 5The atom, molecule, or group of objects repeated at each point of a crystal lattice.
The crystal's structure repeats a two-atom motif at every lattice point.
Different motifs placed on the same lattice produce different crystal structures.
Note
Crystallographers divide a structure into two parts. The lattice is a purely geometric array of points, and the motif is the atom, molecule or group of atoms attached to each of those points. Place the motif on every node of the lattice and the full crystal appears. Place a different motif on the same lattice and you get a different crystal. Here the repeated element is matter, not ornament.
- 6A widespread pattern in a nucleotide or amino acid sequence that has, or is thought to have, biological significance.
The transcription factor recognizes a specific DNA motif in the promoter region.
Several sequence motifs are shared between the two unrelated enzymes.
Note
In molecular biology the repeated figure becomes a short sequence pattern in DNA, RNA or protein, often a binding site or a structural element. It earns the name by recurring widely across genes or species. That conservation suggests a function, even when the function is only conjectured. Proteins are said to share or contain motifs, and a transcription factor recognizes one in a promoter.
- 7A basic element of a move, describing why a piece moves and how it supports the fulfillment of a stipulation.
The composer combined two motifs to create an elegant problem.
Understanding the motif behind a sacrifice often reveals the solution.
Note
Chess problemists use it for the reasoning inside a single move: why the piece goes where it does, and how that helps meet the stipulation, which is the condition the problem sets, such as mate in a given number of moves. A composer may combine several motifs in one problem, and solvers often find the solution by asking which motif a sacrifice serves.
Practice
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Origin
Borrowed from French "motif" (1848), meaning "main idea or theme." It is a doublet of the word "motive."