motif
noun
Simple meaning
A design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mohteefSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
moʊˈtif
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
A decorative figure that is repeated in a design or pattern.
A recurring or dominant element; an artistic theme.
music
A short melodic or lyrical passage that is repeated in several parts of a work.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
Used this way, motif is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use motif
- “The artist used a recurring bird motif throughout her paintings.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.