motif
noun
mo·tif
| \ mō-ˈtēf
\
\
Definition of motif
1
: a usually recurring salient thematic element (as in the arts)
especially
: a dominant idea or central theme
Ms. Cisneros doesn't present too many nice guys here, and the perfidy of men is a motif in several of the stories. — Bebe Moore Campbell
2
: a single or repeated design or color
a decorative motif Animals and flowers as well as trees decorate sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Chinese panels, and each motif had its own meaning.— Nancy Berliner
3
biochemistry
: a distinctive, usually recurrent, molecular sequence (as of amino acids or base pairs) or structural element (as of secondary protein structures)
These RNA molecules have an intriguing structural motif, absent in normal RNA, that recognizes an amino acid and chemically binds to it, forming a novel type of RNA enzyme, or ribozyme.— Jessa Netting Only about half these genes have recognizable motifs, or DNA-sequence patterns, that suggest possible functions.— Alan E. Guttmacher and Francis S. Collins