motif

noun

Saymoh-TEEF/moʊˈtiːf/UK/məʊˈtiːf/

7 meanings of motif

1
nouncountable
A theme, idea, or image that appears again and again in a piece of art or writing.
Like a color that keeps showing up all through a painting.
The broken clock is a motif that runs through the whole film.
Birds appear as a motif in many of her paintings.
Similartheme, thread
Note
2
nouncountable
A small shape or picture that is repeated again and again in a design.
Like one sticker design copied over and over on a sheet.
The wallpaper has a leaf motif printed across it.
She chose a simple star motif for the quilt.
Similarpattern, design, figure
3
nouncountable
A short tune or set of notes that comes back several times in a piece of music.
Like a catchy bit of a song that keeps popping up again.
The same four-note motif appears in every chorus.
He hummed the spooky motif from the movie's theme.
Similartheme, phrase, figure
Note
4
nouncountable
A small fabric shape that is sewn onto clothing or cloth as decoration.
Like a patch you sew on to make clothes look fancy.
She stitched a lace motif onto the collar of the dress.
The gown was trimmed with small velvet motifs along the hem.
Note
5
nouncountable
The atom or group of atoms that is repeated at every point of a crystal pattern.
Like the same small set of toy blocks copied at every corner of a grid.
In table salt, the motif is one sodium atom paired with one chlorine atom.
Each point in the crystal holds the same repeating motif.
Note
6
nouncountable
A short pattern in DNA or protein that shows up often and may have an important job.
Like a short phrase that shows up in many different books and always means something special.
Researchers identified a conserved motif in genes across many species.
The protein contains a motif that binds tightly to DNA.
Note
7
nouncountable
A basic reason why a chess piece moves and how it helps reach a goal.
Solvers studied each motif to see why the knight moved.
Every move in the puzzle had a clear motif behind it.
Note

Practice

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Origin

From French "motif" (1848), meaning "main idea or theme." It is a doublet of "motive."