symbolic
adjectiveattested in dialogue
- United States
Pertaining to a symbol.
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to a symbol.
Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.
- 2
Implicitly representing or referring to another thing.
a symbolic gesture
They viewed the power shift and diversity as a symbolic but meaningful rebuke of the Islamophobic rhetoric that was a central theme of then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.
As a sign-off, they played the video for 1979 new wave classic, a symbolic choice at it was also the first video that MTV ever aired when it launched in the US in 1981.
Etymology
From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”), equivalent to symbol + -ic.
Forms
- comparative
- more symbolic
- superlative
- most symbolic