leitmotif
noun
a motif or theme associated throughout a music drama with a particular person, situation, or idea.
leitmotiv
-
a variation of
leitmotif.
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.
Hallucination again, the decade's leitmotiv of illusion: now you see it, now you don't.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Coming across" has been the leitmotiv of the Somoza regime.
From Time Magazine Archive
Anna draws comfort from this passage, and "the whispers and cries," the murmured intimations of turmoil and panic that have been like a leitmotiv on the sound track, die away.
From Time Magazine Archive
Williams recalls the question, frivolous Millicent Dillon and terror-stricken, as her leitmotiv.
From Time Magazine Archive
A sudden twinge, a momentary giddiness, send you scurrying back to your bailiwick, the bedroom, and the familiar leitmotiv is once more sounded, and with what humility of accent: "Mamma!"
From Unicorns by James Huneker
