Motif ***

motif







Yahoo!奇摩字典

mo/TI/ff



n. (名詞 noun)[C]



          1.    (文學、藝術作品的)主題,中心思想

                      This opera contains a love motif.

                      這齣歌劇有個愛情主題。

          2.    (服裝設計等的)基本圖案,基調

                      a flower motif in wallpaper

                      壁紙的一種花朵圖案

          3.    動機,主旨

                      the profit motif

                      贏利的動機





The Columbia Guide to Standard American English



motif, motive (nn.)   

 

A motif (pronounced mo-TEEF) is a recurrent theme or design in an art work, a repeated figure: The operas of Wagner's Ring make complex use of identifying motifs for particular characters. 



A motive (MO-tiv) is a drive or impulse that causes a person to act in a certain way, as in The profit motive drove him constantly: he undertook nothing except to make money. 



When combined, motive can take the preposition for, or occasionally of, plus a gerund (He had no apparent motive for wanting to interfere; The motive of her action was never clear) or to plus an infinitive (His motive to get involved was mostly curiosity). 



Motive also can combine with the prepositions behind, beneath, and underneath: We could find no motive behind [beneath, underneath] her odd behavior. 





The film finishes by exploring hetero motifs: Encolpio discovers that he is impotent while flailing around on the alter of the whore-priestess, and then recovers his virility while pleasuring Oneothea, a corpulent (stubby) sorceress (enchantress) sex therapist.　read more