Look up motive, motif in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Motive or motif may refer to:

In a creative work:

• Motif (music), a perceivable or salient recurring fragment or succession of notes
• Motif (narrative), any recurring element in a story that has symbolic significance
• Motif (visual arts), a recurrent theme or pattern
• Motif (textile arts), a recurring element or fragment that, when joined together, creates a larger work
• Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of why the piece moves and how it supports the fulfillment of the problem stipulation

In mathematics:

• Motive (algebraic geometry)

In biochemistry:

• Sequence motif, a sequence pattern of nucleotides in a DNA sequence or amino acids in a protein
• Structural motif, a pattern in a protein structure formed by the spatial arrangement of amino acids
• A repeating pattern of elements in a crystal structure

Relating to intent:

• Motive, Psychological Theory - Driving Core Motive - Personality
• Motive (law), in criminal law
• Base motive, in psychology
• Motivation

In music:

• Motive (album), a 1990 album by Red Box
• Motive (SAHB album), a 1990 album by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band
• Yamaha Motif, a music workstation
• The Motive, a punk band

Others:

• Motif (widget toolkit), a graphical user interface toolkit used in software development
• Aston Motif, a range of character generators manufactured by Aston Broadcast Systems
• Motive, Inc., a software manufacturer
• Motif of harmful sensation, physical or mental damage that a person suffers merely by experiencing what should normally be a benign sensation
• Motive art movement, a philosophical artistic movement started by the artist Blake Ward

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