symbolic
Syllables: sym·bo·lic
symbolic adjective: pertaining to a symbol.
Adjective
symbolic (comparative more symbolic, superlative most symbolic)
- 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.2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2019, page 21
- Synonyms:
- emblematic
- 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.2023 June 17, Tom Perkins, “‘A sense of betrayal’: liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans Pride flags”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2023
symbolic meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
symbolic in Hindi
- pertaining to a symbol
- सांकेतिक sāṅketik
- implicitly referring to another thing
- सांकेतिक sāṅketik, प्रतीकात्मक pratīkātmak
symbolic in Marathi
- symbolic or ornamental crucifix
- क्रूस krūs
symbolic in Urdu
- علامتی, استعاری
symbolic in Bengali
- pertaining to a symbol
- সাংকেতিক śaṅketik, প্রতীকী protiki
- implicitly referring to another thing
- সাংকেতিক śaṅketik, প্রতীকী protiki
More languagesFewer languages
- symbolic in Telugu
- సింబాలిక్, ప్రతీకాత్మకం
- symbolic in Malayalam
- പ്രതീകാത്മക pratīkātmaka
- symbolic in Kannada
- ಸಾಂಕೇತಿಕ
- symbolic in Punjabi
- ਪ੍ਰਤੀਕਾਤਮਕ
- symbolic in Gujarati
- પ્રતીકાત્મક, પ્રતિકાત્મક
- symbolic in Odia
- ପ୍ରତୀକୀ, ପ୍ରତୀକାତ୍ମକ
- symbolic in Nepali
- प्रतीकात्मक
Examples of symbolic in a sentence
- With the find command, any symbolic links appearing after -follow will be dereferenced.
- The handler of a weapon gets a symbolic sensation of deadly power.
- 'O horror, horror, horror', Macduff cries, his epizeuxis reflecting a lack in the symbolic order itself.
Synonyms of symbolic
Forms of symbolic
| comparative | more symbolic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most symbolic |
Origin of symbolic
From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”), equivalent to symbol + -ic.
Words formed from symbolic
- antisymbolic
- asymbolic
- Blissard's symbolic method
- concolic
- ethnosymbolic
- multisymbolic
- neurosymbolic
- nonsymbolic
- postsymbolic
- presymbolic
- shambolic
- sociosymbolic
- sound-symbolic
- subsymbolic
- symblematic
- symbolical
- symbolically
- symbolicate
- symbolic constant
- symbolic expression
- symbolic interactionism
- symbolicism
- symbolic language
- symbolic link
- symbolic logic
- symbolicness
- symbolics
- symbolic speech
- unsymbolic
Phrases with symbolic
Words that rhyme with symbolic
Questions about symbolic
- What does symbolic mean?
- Symbolic means pertaining to a symbol.
- What is symbolic in Hindi?
- Symbolic in Hindi is सांकेतिक (sāṅketik), प्रतीकात्मक (pratīkātmak). See Symbolic meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is symbolic?
- Symbolic is an adjective.
Words near symbolic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: symbolic (page history and authors); क्रूस (Marathi) (page history and authors); symbolic (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); symbolic (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); symbolic (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); symbolic (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); symbolic (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); symbolic (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); symbolic (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-symbolic.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-symbolic.wav.
Cite this entry: “symbolic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/symbolic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.