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Motto vs Theme - What's the difference?

motto | theme |

As nouns the difference between motto and theme

is that motto is a sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievement while theme is a subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.

As a verb theme is

to apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).

motto

English

(Webster 1913)

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (heraldry) A sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievement.
  • A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim.
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • It was the motto of a bishop eminent for his piety and good works, ... Serve God, and be cheerful.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
      Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    theme

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
  • A recurring idea; a motif.
  • (music) The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
  • (film, television) A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
  • (computing, figuratively) The collection of color schemes, sounds, artwork etc., that "skin" an environment towards a particular motif.
  • (grammar) The stem of a word
  • (linguistics) thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb
  • (linguistics) Theta role in generative grammar and government and binding theory.
  • (linguistics) Topic, what is generally being talked about, as opposed to rheme
  • A regional unit of organisation in the Byzantine empire.
  • Verb

    (them)
  • (computing) To apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).