adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a symbolic act (= something you do to express an idea or feeling )
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The Tibetan climber will pass the Olympic flame to his Chinese partner in a symbolic act of friendship.
a symbolic gesture (= something you do that shows people how you feel )
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In a symbolic gesture, he renounced his $10,000 monthly presidential salary.
a symbolic meaning (= representing an idea )
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Colours often have symbolic meanings; for example, black signifies grief in Western cultures.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
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This can be regarded as symbolic .
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These relationships, and the position of the woman as symbolic of her culture, are mutually reinforcing.
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Here, they drew on Hegel's account of religious doctrines and institutions as symbolic objectifications of that spirit.
largely
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The government has made minor cuts on welfare and some changes of a largely symbolic nature.
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In fact, the measure has so many exceptions that some Republicans said its value is largely symbolic .
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But to describe the bill as largely symbolic is not to diminish its importance.
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The registry is largely symbolic and confers none of the legal rights and obligations of marriage.
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Because Westminster retains responsibility for security, the vote was largely symbolic .
more
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Yet a far stronger and more symbolic object remains - the wedding ring.
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The decertification of Columbia, however, might be more symbolic than punitive.
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Berlin, in the present context, is more symbolic than significant.
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The meeting Sunday at the Red Sea resort is more symbolic than substantive.
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As conceived by writer-director Victor Salva, our male protagonists are more symbolic than human.
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Later wall engravings of women show even more symbolic abstraction.
purely
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Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic .
■ NOUN
act
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Yet there could be no more symbolic act of defiance than a currency with a separate exchange rate against the rouble.
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It was as though that one, symbolic act gave him permission to live his life his way.
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The wearing of an armband to express certain views is the kind of symbolic act protected by that amendment.
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The symbolic act could not have been more significant.
capital
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In much of his treatment of Kabylia Bourdieu is loath to speak of symbolic capital at all.
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Both the cycle of gifts and of offence and revenge are aimed at the preservation or accumulation of symbolic capital .
form
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Then allow your goal or Dream to take on a symbolic form , and appear on the grass in front of you.
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However, in both cases, Pech-Merle and the Neolithic, we see the symbolic forms associated with clear female symbols.
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Is it then restricted to ritual, stereotypical or culturally symbolic forms ?
function
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I am more interested in the varying symbolic functions they fulfil.
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Ritual foods are served, each with a symbolic function .
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Furthermore, it is perceived to have an educative and symbolic function as well as a practical one.
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When seen, they have only a symbolic function .
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Additionally, the new law has symbolic functions .
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Piaget referred to this as the symbolic function , or the semiotic function, the use of symbols and signs.
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This argument neglects the symbolic function of the labels applied by the law and by courts to criminal conduct.
gesture
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Surely tearing up the Pope's picture was meant as a symbolic gesture , not a personal affront.
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Such language suggests that the riots were less about forcing material change than about making symbolic gestures .
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Last year, in a symbolic gesture , he introduced a 20p tax band.
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But the symbolic gesture is likely to be of dubious long-term value and will depend entirely on the personalities and circumstances involved.
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This symbolic gesture seemed to satisfy them.
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The union leaders appear to be building public support for their cause, with clever use of symbolic gestures and public relations.
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Or, like Parliament Square, will it occupy the terrain of a symbolic gesture , alive in legend?
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It remained a small, symbolic gesture of anger at the official policy on education.
importance
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Now that it is, try thinking about what is happening in astronomical terms and you will instantly notice the symbolic importance .
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Riyadh, the modern capital, does not have this symbolic importance .
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There can be no doubt of the symbolic importance of prostitution to the Victorians.
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It was therefore of some symbolic importance , but it was badly flawed.
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The anti-investiture decree, however great its symbolic importance , did little to diminish the power of lay rulers over ecclesiastical appointments.
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But there is a symbolic importance of the prominence of Mr. Flynn in Fianna Fáil.
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I was in a numbered uniform of massive symbolic importance with nuances of style which clearly defined our social identity.
language
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Culture and symbolic language , once developed through evolution, allow humans to race ahead.
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The freedom of much animal behaviour from physically specifiable constraints implies that many animals must have inner representations and symbolic language .
meaning
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The fact is simply that the two colours do not possess universal symbolic meanings shared by all the peoples of the globe.
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And yet, symbolic meanings do not derive only from cultures.
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All illnesses carry symbolic meanings as well as the purely physiological.
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In other words, a technological breakthrough supposedly ushered in new symbolic meanings .
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Comprehension in the sense of understanding sentences is then a semantic matter of deciphering symbolic meanings .
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A harmless pleasure can become the gateway to nameless hells when for whatever reasons it begins to carry a significant symbolic meaning .
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The attraction of shells has often been enhanced by attributing to them symbolic meanings suggested by more or less fanciful resemblances.
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The symbolic meaning of the clothes is the same for all Punjabis.
play
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In order of their emergence, they are deferred imitation, symbolic play , drawing, mental imagery, and spoken language.
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Yet Piaget assures us that the free-ranging nature of symbolic play has an essentially functional value and is not simply a diversion.
power
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This power is of course symbolic power.
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Witches are simply women who control symbolic power that neither men nor established religious authorities can wrench from them.
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Why would anyone wish to seize the symbolic power in such a hounded institution and risk exposure and persecution?
representation
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They are symbolic representations , but there's nothing absolute about the type of symbols we use on them.
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Consider the variety of symbolic representations in the following: electrical circuit diagrams map of the London Underground medieval picture maps.
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Both maintain that there are symbolic representations of the Ultimate whether the Ultimate be depicted as Truth or as the Holy.
role
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His verdict will have to be reversed if he is to play anything more than a symbolic role for a divided opposition.
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Jadeite artefacts were prized above all for their symbolic roles .
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The question could well be asked why jadeite lost its symbolic role during the Bronze Age.
significance
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The body, too, may have its symbolic significance .
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But meantime the story is rich in symbolic significance for the travails of our age.
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Each separation contains symbolic significance , incorporating transitional stages of liminality.
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The horn holds immense symbolic significance .
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Certain kinds of behaviour, even when considered on its own, may have a symbolic significance that its witnesses find insulting.
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None of this is to downplay the actual and symbolic significance of Lieberman's Jewishness.
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Their symbolic significance was also very plain.
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Some still hope to find symbolic significance in Darwinism.
system
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This is achieved with the setting up of a relational structure between the meaningful elements of the symbolic system .
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Clearly myths are dependent on a language and a symbolic system which is shared, and which is therefore social.
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However, it is often regarded as problematic whether or not animals have mental representations, or use symbolic systems or languages.
value
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Surfing had a symbolic value for Hawaiians.
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The symbolic value of using or not using a photograph has also been important for advertisers.
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Organic materials Most of the materials chiefly esteemed today for their symbolic value are of mineral origin.
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Again, the symbolic value of the cross was heightened by the application of gold or silver.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a symbolic painting
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The President's trip to Russia was mostly symbolic .
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We feel that wearing a red ribbon to support AIDS victims is an important symbolic gesture.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But meantime the story is rich in symbolic significance for the travails of our age.
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It was symbolic of the whole thing.
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Such language suggests that the riots were less about forcing material change than about making symbolic gestures.
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The album cover, with the father of 12-tone music playing Ping-Pong, is an apt symbolic touch.
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There can be little doubt that this was in essence for Mrs Whitehouse a symbolic or political victory.
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These ten programs contend for a limited number of real and symbolic resources.
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Why would anyone wish to seize the symbolic power in such a hounded institution and risk exposure and persecution?