DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Mo·tive n.
 1. That which moves; a mover. [Obs.]
 2. That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object; motivation2.
    By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively.   --J. Edwards.
 3. Mus. The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also Leading motive, under Leading. [Written also motivo.]
 4. Fine Arts That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one.
 Syn: -- Incentive; incitement; inducement; reason; spur; stimulus; cause.
 Usage: -- Motive, Inducement, Reason. Motive is the word originally used in speaking of that which determines the choice.  We call it an inducement when it is attractive in its nature.  We call it a reason when it is more immediately addressed to the intellect in the form of argument.

 Lead·ing a. Guiding; directing; controlling; foremost; as, a leading motive; a leading man; a leading example. -- Lead*ing*ly, adv.
 Leading case Law, a reported decision which has come to be regarded as settling the law of the question involved. --Abbott.
 Leading motive [a translation of G. leitmotif] Mus., a guiding theme; in the musical drama of Wagner, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label.  Also called leitmotif or leitmotiv.
 Leading note Mus., the seventh note or tone in the ascending major scale; the sensible note.
 Leading question, a question so framed as to guide the person questioned in making his reply.
 Leading strings, strings by which children are supported when beginning to walk.
 To be in leading strings, to be in a state of infancy or dependence, or under the guidance of others.
 Leading wheel, a wheel situated before the driving wheels of a locomotive engine.

 Leit·mo·tif, Leit·mo·tiv n.
 1. Mus. a guiding theme; in Wagnerian opera, a marked melodic phrase or short musical passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label.  Also called Leading motive.
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