The repeated triplets are the most prominent motif in that movement of the symphony.
Source: tatoeba (2349841)
Motif
//moʊˈtiːf//
Synonyms for "motif" (131 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (27)
Strong matches (39)
Related words (65)
leitmotivlinelistliving issuelocal colormain pointmattermatter in handmeasuremeatmoodmotivemovementmythosnational stylenoteornamentornamental motifpatternperiod style
Show 43 more words
peripeteiaphraseplanplotpointpoint at issuepoint in questionproblemquestionrecognitionrefrainrepeated figurerising actionrubricruffleschemesecondary plotselvagesettingskirtingslantstorystructurestylesubjectsubject mattersubject of thoughtsubplotsubstanceswitchsymboltastetextthematic developmentthreadtonetopictouchtrimmingtunetwistvalancewelt
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
8 entriesSynonyms
1 entriesRelated terms
4 entriesderived
13 entrieshas context
5 entriesis a
2 entriesrelated to
20 entriesShowing 16 of 20 words.
Translations
51 translations across 22 languages.
Bulgarian
2 entries- мотив noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- мотив noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
Catalan
2 entries- motiu noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motiu noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
Czech
1 entries- motiv noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
Dutch
1 entries- motief noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
Finnish
4 entries- aihe noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- aihe noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
- aihio noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- kuvio noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
French
4 entries- motif noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motif noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- motif noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
- motif noun (nucleotide or amino-acid sequence pattern)
Galician
1 entries- motivo noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
German
3 entries- Motiv noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- Motiv noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- Motiv noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
Greek
3 entries- μοτίβο noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- μοτίβο noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- μοτίβο noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
Hebrew
1 entries- מוטיב noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
Hungarian
2 entries- motívum noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motívum noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
Ido
1 entries- motivo noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
Italian
1 entries- motivo noun (nucleotide or amino-acid sequence pattern)
Japanese
4 entries- モチーフ noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- モチーフ noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- モチーフ noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
- 主題 noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
Māori
1 entries- rerenga auau noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
Polish
1 entries- motyw noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
Portuguese
4 entries- leitmotiv noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motivo noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motivo noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- motivo noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
Russian
3 entries- моти́в noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- моти́в noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- моти́в noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
Scottish Gaelic
1 entries- ùrlar noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
Spanish
3 entries- motivo noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motivo noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- motivo noun (nucleotide or amino-acid sequence pattern)
Swedish
2 entries- motiv noun (recurring or dominant element; a theme)
- motiv noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
Turkish
3 entries- motif noun (music: short melodic passage that is repeated in several parts of a work)
- motif noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
- örge noun (decorative figure that is repeated in a design)
Sample sentences
6 total sentences available.
Tom painted the room in a jungle motif.
Source: tatoeba (3502852)
This year's runaway hit is Nigeria's jersey, mainly lime green with a black-and-white wing motif on the sleeves.
Source: tatoeba (7009622)
Birds are a common motif in Yiddish poetry and song.
Source: tatoeba (11351408)
Showing 4 of 6 available sentences.
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.