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[ adjective ] relating to or using or proceeding by means of symbols
Synonyms Examples "symbolic logic" "symbolic operations" "symbolic thinking" Used in print (Harold Searles, "Schizophrenic Communication,"...)Thus he may be referring to some concrete thing , or incident , in his immediate environment by some symbolic sounding , hyperbolic reference to transcendental events on the global scene . Or , equally often , a concretistic seeming , particularistic seeming statement may consist , with its mundane exterior , in a form of poetry - may be full of meaning and emotion when interpreted as a figurative expression : a metaphor , a simile , an allegory , or some other symbolic mode of speaking . |
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[ adjective ] serving as a visible symbol for something abstract
Synonyms Examples "a crown is emblematic of royalty" "the spinning wheel was as symbolic of colonial Massachusetts as the codfish" Used in print (Howard Nemerov, "Themes and Methods: The Early...)It appears that the dominant tendency of Mann 's early tales , however pictorial or even picturesque the surface , is already toward the symbolic , the emblematic , the expressionistic . Related terms |
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[ adjective ] using symbolism
Examples "symbolic art" Used in print (Randall Stewart, "A Little History, a Little Honesty: A...)George_W._Cable ( naturalized New_Englander ) , writing in 1889 from `` Paradise_Road , Northampton '' ( lovely symbolic name ) , agitated continuously the `` Southern question '' . Related terms |
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