motif · noun — A recurring or dominant element; an artistic theme. It carries an Arena rating of 1630, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, motif ranks #351 of 17,187 for Most Malleable Words, #519 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words, #746 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,918 of 17,163 for Most Beautiful Words.
motif is pronounced /moʊˈtiːf/.
Why “motif” is a great word
A recurring and distinctive element, theme, or pattern in a literary, artistic, or musical composition. From French motif (1848), meaning 'dominant idea, theme,' from Medieval Latin motivus ('moving, impelling'), from Latin motus, past participle of movere ('to move'); a doublet of motive. Unlike motive, which denotes the psychological impulse for action, or leitmotif, which is a specific, tagged musical phrase, a motif is the quiet insistence of a shape, a phrase, a color that returns unbidden. It is the scent of jasmine in three scenes across a novel, the repeated stitch of red thread in a tapestry, the echoed chord progression in a fugue—the soft, persistent pressure that moves us not through argument, but through pattern.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From French motif (1848), with the meaning of "main idea or theme". Doublet of motive.
noun
- A recurring or dominant element; an artistic theme.e.g.“See how the artist repeats the scroll motif throughout the work?”
- A short melodic or lyrical passage that is repeated in several parts of a work.
- A decorative figure that is repeated in a design or pattern.
- A decorative appliqué design or figure, as of lace or velvet, used in trimming.
- The physical object or objects repeated at each point of a lattice. Usually atoms or molecules.
- A basic element of a move in terms of why the piece moves and how it supports the fulfilment of a stipulation.
- In a nucleotide or aminoacid sequence, pattern that is widespread and has, or is conjectured to have, a biological significance.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- motivically 67% match — In accordance with, or by means of, a motif. vs motif →
- leitmotif 67% match — A melodic theme associated with a particular character, place, thing or idea in an opera. vs motif →
- motific 65% match — Producing motion. vs motif →
- motify 63% match — To form a motif vs motif →
- topos 61% match — A literary theme or motif; a rhetorical convention or formula. vs motif →
- motet 59% match — A composition adapted to sacred words in the elaborate polyphonic church style; an anthem. vs motif →
- mottolike 57% match — Resembling or characteristic of a motto. vs motif →
- ostinato 57% match — A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment. vs motif →