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.

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 Argentine author, whose writing habitually draws on the uncanny, here delivers a blend of superstition, dread and a leitmotif of mental instability in a register of acute psychological realism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

Its leitmotif is push and pull: unsettling, bruising, often brutal, yet ultimately life-affirming.

From BBC • Sep. 4, 2025

In the “Barbie” film, “What Was I Made For?” plays a key role — an instrumental version of the song pops up like a leitmotif, soundtracking introspective, existential moments for its protagonist.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 10, 2024

The King’s leitmotif, for example, might be 4 quarter notes played on a trumpet sound on a keyboard, or using an interval of a 5th on any instrument to sound regal and stately.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin