Skip to main content
symbolic

symbolic

158 4.3
A way of showing meaning using a color, object or action
  • adjective
  • /sɪmˈbɑlɪk/
translation icon : simbólico
  • The dove is a symbolic representation of peace.
  • symbolic meaning
  • a symbolic gesture
  • symbolic expression

We're even even in a small symbolic way, you know, things happen.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • It was the final flight of an Apollo spacecraft and the symbolic end of the space race.

  • Governor George Wallace had carried out his symbolic threat to stand in the schoolhouse door.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Often this came in the form of a symbolic request for earth and water.

  • Those all have a very specific symbolic purpose.

  • So I want some support from you, both symbolic support and financial support.

  • It's only symbolic if we choose to make it so.

  • Like, what was the symbolic lesson that you took away from that?

  • A symbolic end to an age of expansion.

  • This was not before writing, but it was nevertheless symbolic of that kind of thing.

  • But it was the Forum that was the symbolic focus for their time in Rome.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

emblematic
vssymbolic
16 7.0

A symbol of an idea or quality, like a flag

represents ideas or qualities using symbols rather than literal sense
emblematic of
vssymbolic
15 6.2

Something that clearly shows a quality or idea

represents ideas or qualities using symbols rather than literal sense
figurative
vssymbolic
5 5.9

In art, showing people, animals, or other things you can recognize rather than abstract shapes

focuses on using symbols to show ideas rather than literal physical forms
emblematical
vssymbolic
8.9

Acting as a symbol of an idea like peace or courage

represents ideas or qualities using symbols rather than literal sense
symbolical
vssymbolic
7.3

That shows an idea by a sign or object

is the general term for representing ideas by symbols not literal meaning
symbolistic
vssymbolic
8.4

Using symbols to suggest ideas or feelings instead of saying them directly

applies to representing ideas across contexts not only artistic works

Antonyms

120 3.5

Exactly true without exaggeration or metaphor

Compounds

A visible thing like a flag that stands for an idea you cannot see

A person or object that stands for an idea with deeper meaning

symbolic logic
  • Specialized
8.4

A way of using signs like letters to show the structure of arguments and statements

symbolic logician
  • Specialized
9.9

A person who studies formal rules of reasoning using signs

How Symbolic

allegorical
  • Literature
7 7.7
figurative
9 6.4
symbolic
158 4.3
emblematic
16 7.0
literal
120 3.5

Surface Forms

symbolic positive

Morphology

symbolic = symbol (transparent) = symbol + ic

The adjective is directly formed from the noun 'symbol' with the productive suffix '-ic', so its meaning is readily derivable by learners.

Etymology

Symbolic comes from symbol, which comes from the old Greek word symbolon, meaning 'sign' or 'token'. A helpful image is two people keeping matching pieces of a broken pot as a token of an agreement. So, something symbolic 'stands for' an idea or feeling instead of meaning only what you see.