Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or expressed by means of symbols or a symbol.
- adj. Serving as a symbol.
- adj. Using symbolism: symbolic art.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to symbols; of the nature of a symbol; serving as a symbol; representative: as, the figure of an eye is symbolic of sight and knowledge.
- In grammar, formal; relational; connective: sometimes noting words having a formal or relational value.
- In mathematics, dealing with symbols of operation.
- n. Same as symbolics.
- Of or pertaining to symbolism, 4.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Theol.) See symbolics.
- adj. Of or pertaining to a symbol or symbols; of the nature of a symbol; exhibiting or expressing by resemblance or signs; representative.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to or using or proceeding by means of symbols
- adj. using symbolism
- adj. serving as a visible symbol for something abstract
Etymologies
- From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (symbolikos, "of or belonging to a symbol") (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Many others followed Drucker; Robert Reich coined the phrase "symbolic analysts" much the same as Drucker's "knowledge workers" for those trained to use information in a way that allowed them to thrive in a shifting, information-rich networked world.”
The Huffington Post: Robert Teitelman: Svengalis, Bankers and the Role of Intermediaries
“Nomos Alpha, from 1966, is an example of what he called symbolic music, in which the order of musical events is determined according to mathematical rules, while Kottos, composed 11 years later, is a portrait of one of the giants from Greek mythology who fought with Zeus against the Titans.”
“The whole symbolism thing would be stupid and meaningless, except that the symbolic is at least as important as the substantial to the pathologically biased and absurd human being.”
Oh, *no*. *More* political maps inciting violence! | RedState
“President Calderon comparing the fence on our southern border to quote, "the Berlin Wall", saying that Mexicans in the United States are what he calls symbolic hostages of the illegal immigration issue.”
“Commission for the provision of what it described as symbolic reparations.”
“As an illustration of what he calls symbolic movements, I will quote his remarks (p. 37), taken from M. Chevreul, on a man playing at billiards.”
“I shall endeavour to show how I trace the connection of my earlier and my later life; how my earlier life has proved for me the means of understanding my later; how, in general, my own individual life has become to me a key to the universal life, or, in short, to what I call the symbolic life and the perpetual, conditioned, and unbroken chain of existence.”
“The small group gathered on Thursday for a march toward what it called a "symbolic site of finance and capitalism," with plans for an unidentified "action," but dozens of police moved in and encircled the protesters.”
“Democrats say they won't let a bill pass the Senate with the subsidies provision, which they described as a symbolic gesture aimed at trying to force them to negotiate with the House on the labor issue.”
“However, some activists like Mohammed al-Qahtani, who heads a human rights group, say there was probably too much excitement over what he called a "symbolic" announcement that won't be implemented for a few more years.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘symbolic’.
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SCIE - mathematics
The most frequent words in the titles of mathematical books and journals (www.sciencedirect.com)
surface, administration, project, motion, machine, medical, vision, solid, shape, scheme, income, proceed and 205 more...
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bbc uk china vocab.
conservationists, estimate, threats, infertility, eating away at, endangered, furry, panel, in trouble, gongs, triumphed, caps and 1007 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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bolics
shambolic, parabolic, anabolic, diabolical, diabolic, catabolic, symbolic, metabolic, hyperbolic, carbolic acid, amphibolic, ecbolic and 9 more...
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Red
Words that describe the color red.
quick, adventurous, secretive, charismatic, bold, feirce, crisp, poignant, symbolic, misunderstood, understanding, surreptitious and 10 more...
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daily randoms
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Coruscatingly what?
List of adjectival terms, from aggressive to zippered, paired in printed materials with the adverb coruscatingly, identified by a simple query to Google Search (Books).
...propaedeutic...aggressive, angry, articulate, astringent, aware, beautiful, big, blinding, bright, brilliant, brutal, cerebral and 93 more...
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ESL Academic Word List
This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are...
collapse, depression, colleagues, invoked, levy, nonetheless, likewise, so-called, ongoing, conceived, forthcoming, integrity and 558 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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1
horizon, echo, undulation, resonance, reflection, acoustic, swoosh, distant, glide, interspace, marbles, radiant and 144 more...
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Rita's List of Words
preliminary, rudimentary, stance, conduit, locale, implicit, vicissitude, empirical, repository, apophthegm, apothegm, invariable and 431 more...
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Hilary's List
Just a list of words I like
wellspring, mystery, wonderment, intrinsic, artisan, enchantment, magic, transience, incomplete, impermanent, imperfect, resonance and 163 more...
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The Wørd
Trademark of Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report.
truthiness, bacchanalia, disappointed, love handles, pussy, overrated, perspective, quitter, alito, camilla-mania, cat, shhhh!... and 335 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for symbolic.
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