leitmotif
Americannoun
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a motif or theme associated throughout a music drama with a particular person, situation, or idea.
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a unifying or dominant motif; a recurrent theme.
A leitmotif in science fiction is the evolving relationship between humans and machines.
noun
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music a recurring short melodic phrase or theme used, esp in Wagnerian music dramas, to suggest a character, thing, etc
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an often repeated word, phrase, image, or theme in a literary work
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Recurring themes or subjects in other forms of art or literature are sometimes also called leitmotifs.
Leitmotifs are particularly associated with the operas of Richard Wagner.
Etymology
Origin of leitmotif
First recorded in 1875–80; from German: “leading motive”
Explanation
If you notice the subject of freedom coming up again and again in a book you're reading for English class, you can impress your teacher by calling it a leitmotif, or a theme that recurs. The noun leitmotif is most useful for talking about music, and it usually comes up in the context of classical music, whenever a particular phrase or tune is repeated. The word comes from the German Leitmotiv, which literally means "lead motif," or "guiding motif." Though leitmotif makes music experts think of Wagner's operas when they hear it, it's been around at least since Mozart's time.
Vocabulary lists containing leitmotif
Opera Vocabulary
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Words Derived from German
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Scorsese’s faith, and his battles with it, provide something of a leitmotif of the series — is he a saint or a sinner?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
The book is crowded with characters, but “Sunshine Charlie” Mitchell, the head of National City Bank of New York, provides a sort of leitmotif.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
Through these depictions, the show tries to tell the histories of the nomadic, tribal and agrarian communities for whom resilient survival was the leitmotif and cloth a way of narrating their marginalised experiences.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2025
A leitmotif in "Strange New Worlds" relates to Pike foreknowledge that a life-changing accident lurks in his future.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2023
The goal of a leitmotif is to help the listener identify a main character or theme in the story.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
