Definition of "leitmotif" []

• A melodic passage or phrase, especially in Wagnerian opera, associated with a specific character, situation, or element. (noun)
• A dominant and recurring theme, as in a novel. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But also I think the use of leitmotif is one of the ways in which you can tie together a narrative that is otherwise quite separated."
• "With the no-doubt unintended effect of suggesting that Wallace's menace and ensuing mayhem might, in hindsight, be laughed-off like a good-ol'-boy joke, "George Wallace: Settin 'the Woods on Fire" takes part of its title, and its misguided musical leitmotif from a wacky, Hank Williams party-hearty song."
• "WHY: The exhibition Last One will show Kozyrev's works from the artist's two latest series Lost Edge and Last One, in which his leitmotif is the ruin or fragment."