Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun leitmotiv

1 sense of leitmotiv

Sense 1
leitmotiv, leitmotif -- (a melodic phrase that accompanies the reappearance of a person or situation (as in Wagner's operas))
       => tune, melody, air, strain, melodic line, line, melodic phrase -- (a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; "she was humming an air from Beethoven")