| Noun | 1. | motif - a design that consists of recurring shapes or colors | |
| 2. | motif - a theme that is elaborated on in a piece of musicmelodic theme, musical theme, theme, idea - (music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it" | |
| 3. | motif - a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work; "it was the usual `boy gets girl' theme"idea, thought - the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about; "it was not a good idea"; "the thought never entered my mind" topos - a traditional theme or motif or literary convention; "James Joyce uses the topos of the Wandering Jew in his Ulysses" | |