🇩🇪German Source WordCode: DE

Leitmotiv

Pronunciation / Transliteration: Leitmotiv

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Leitmotif/ˈlaɪt.moʊˌtiːf/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #28500 frequency
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🇩🇪 Example Sentence in German:

"Das Werk ist durch ein zentrales Leitmotiv verbunden."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A short, recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, or idea.

    "The composer uses a distinct horn blast as the hero's leitmotif whenever he enters the scene."
  2. 2

    A recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition.

    "Isolation and memory serve as the central leitmotifs of her latest novel."

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Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Borrowed from German Leitmotiv, from leiten ('to lead') + Motiv ('motive'). Coined in musicology to describe a recurrent theme associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.

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