Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work.
- noun A dominant theme or central idea.
- noun Music A short rhythmic or melodic passage that is repeated or evoked in various parts of a composition.
- noun A repeated figure or design in architecture or decoration. synonym: figure.
- noun A recurrent pattern either of molecular sequence, usually of nucleotides or amino acids in proteins, or of molecular structure that usually corresponds to specific biological activity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Middle English form of
motive . - noun [F.] A datum, theme, or ground for intellectual action: used as French.
- noun [F.] In music:
- noun A figure.
- noun A subject or theme, particularly one that recurs often in a dramatic work as a leading subject.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun archaic Motive.
- noun (Music) In literature and the fine arts, a salient feature or element of a composition or work; esp., the theme, or central or dominant feature
- noun (Dressmaking) A decorative appliqué design or figure, as of lace or velvet, used in trimming; also, a repeated design.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
recurring ordominant element ; atheme . - noun music A short melodic
passage that is repeated in several parts of a work - noun A decorative
figure that is repeated in adesign - noun crystallography The physical object or objects repeated at each point of a
lattice . Usuallyatoms ormolecules .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work
- noun a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music
- noun a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In Romanticism, the ruin motif is expressed and interpreted in various ways; here the literal ruin or monument, there the figurative ruin of the self, and elsewhere still the formalistic ruin of the Romantic fragment poem, with all of its unsettled meaning.
The Ruins of Empire: Nationalism, Art, and Empire in Hemans's Modern Greece 2006
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The novel's central motif comes from the tale of Orpheus, the great musician of Greek mythology, who charmed his way into the underworld and begged the gods with music to bring his wife back to life.
Richard Harvell's novel about 18th-century opera, "The Bells" Nancy Robertson 2010
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If a certain typeface or a certain motif is considered inappropriate because it looks unprofessional, no professional artist/designer would use them.
More on covers msagara 2009
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A familiar motif is that they operate at the very fringes of perception.
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If a certain typeface or a certain motif is considered inappropriate because it looks unprofessional, no professional artist/designer would use them.
msagara: More on covers msagara 2009
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The “new woman” motif is announced in London's description of Grace's efficiency:
“The Kipling of the Klondike”: Naturalism in London's Early Fiction 2010
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The nameless gunslinger motif is taken to a very grizzly place as Jonah Hex is shown as a remorseless bounty hunter with a notoriety that instills fear and anger among the folks he meets.
Getting Graphic: Jonah Hex: Face Full of Violence by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti 2010
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The novel's central motif comes from the tale of Orpheus, the great musician of Greek mythology, who charmed his way into the underworld and begged the gods with music to bring his wife back to life.
Richard Harvell's novel about 18th-century opera, "The Bells" Nancy Robertson 2010
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The nameless gunslinger motif is taken to a very grizzly place as Jonah Hex is shown as a remorseless bounty hunter with a notoriety that instills fear and anger among the folks he meets.
Archive 2010-06-01 2010
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Also note: I doubt this was intentional in the Pledge but the One God to Two Goddesses motif is actually also found as the Second Capitoline Triad, though the choice of goddesses was different.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Ninth Circuit Upholds “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, 2010
jwjarvis commented on the word motif
a pattern in a protein structure formed by the spatial arrangement of amino acids
November 12, 2010
marky commented on the word motif
cool I like that definition jwjarvis
November 13, 2010