Word.ws English Dictionary

symbol-pushing

symbol-pushing adjective: using symbol pushing; solving mathematical problems by manipulating symbols (as in algebra) rather than through visual or intuitive understanding.

Adjective

symbol-pushing (not comparable)

  1. (derogatory) Using symbol pushing; solving mathematical problems by manipulating symbols (as in algebra) rather than through visual or intuitive understanding.
    • Reasoning by equivalence is essentially a symbol-pushing technique, which reduces algebraic reasoning to a mechanical calculation. There is nothing pejorative in describing this activity as symbol-pushing or as mechanical: in some senses this automation is liberating.1995, Proof Technology in Mathematics Research and Teaching, Springer International Publishing, →ISBN, page 314
    • Perhaps no mechanistic symbol-pushing system could ever produce behavior that matched that of humans—after all, not all kinds of mechanisms can be used to produce all kinds of results.1999, Max Hailperin, Barbara Kaiser, Karl Knight, Concrete Abstractions, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 203

Origin of symbol-pushing

Derived from symbol pushing.

Questions about symbol-pushing

What does symbol-pushing mean?
Symbol-pushing means using symbol pushing; solving mathematical problems by manipulating symbols (as in algebra) rather than through visual or intuitive understanding.
What part of speech is symbol-pushing?
Symbol-pushing is an adjective.

Words near symbol-pushing in the dictionary

  1. symbol pusher
  2. symbol pushers
  3. symbol pushing
  4. symbol table
  5. symbol tables
  6. symbol-pushing
  7. symbolaeography
  8. symbolatrous
  9. symbolatry
  10. symbole
  11. symboled

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: symbol-pushing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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