motif

views updated May 14 2018

mo·tif / mōˈtēf/ • n. a decorative design or pattern: T-shirts featuring spiral motifs. ∎  a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition: the nautical motif of his latest novel. ∎  Mus. a short succession of notes producing a single impression; a brief melodic or rhythmic formula out of which longer passages are developed: the motif in the second violin is submerged by the first violin's countermelody. ∎  an ornament of lace, braid, etc., sewn separately on a garment. ∎  Biochem. a distinctive sequence on a protein or DNA, having a three-dimensional structure that allows binding interactions to occur.

motif

views updated May 23 2018

motif (Fr.; Eng. motive; Ger. motiv). The shortest intelligible and self-existent melodic or rhythmic figure (e.g. the first 4 notes of Beethoven's 5th Sym.). Every ‘theme’ or ‘subject’ perhaps has several motifs, and almost every mus. passage will be found to be a development of some motif. But the word has, in mus. analysis, been used as a synonym for ‘theme’; and Wagner's extension of it to leitmotiv has further complicated the issue. The adjective ‘motivic’ is an invention of analytical writers, functional but ugly and better avoided.

motif

views updated Jun 11 2018

motif XIX. — F., ‘MOTIVE’.

Motif

views updated Jun 27 2018

MOTIF.

This entry includes two subentries:

Motif in Literature
Motif in Music

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