The rose is the principal motif in Brull's poetry, his preferred symbol for "a standard of perfection and permanence in a transitory world."

Sheer and tailored were his principal motifs: skirted suits paired with chiffon blouses.

Mr. Hochhausen, however, is a virtuoso woodcarver in his own right and here, spheres piled one on top of another are his principal motif.

These deliberate actions gave way to the tumbleweedlike rolls that were the work's principal choreographic motif.

Therefore, shell forms became the principal motif in Rococo.

It was a party, all right-twenty floors up a shimmering building in a large, handsome room whose principal decorative motif seemed to be cooling fins.

In its upper woodwork are quatrefoils, the church exterior's principal motif, surmounted by segmented limestone.

Still, madness and despondency were the principal motifs of her life with him.

Its principal motif is the chromatic scale, or half-steps that rise and fall.

Linear designs were the principal motif used in this period.