I. (ˈ)sim|bälik, -lēk adjective
Etymology: Late Latin symbolicus, from Greek symbolikos, from symbolon symbol + -ikos -ic
1. : of or relating to a symbol : being a symbol
the symbolic books of a church
a symbolic diagram
barren hills, symbolic of the hardy race reared among them
the spinning wheel was as symbolic of colonial Massachusetts as the codfish — American Guide Series: Massachusetts
2.
a. : using, employing, or exhibiting a symbol : expressed in symbols
symbolic inscriptions
symbolic writers
b. : consisting of a symbol
a symbolic signature
3. often capitalized : of or relating to a lodge of freemasonry (as in the York rite)
symbolic degrees
symbolic lodge
4.
a. : proceeding by means of symbols : substituting abstract representations for concrete objects
symbolic operations
b. : characterized by or terminating in symbols instead of the things symbolized
symbolic thinking
5. : of, relating to, or being a sequence of phonemes occurring in a group of words connected with a common usually vague feature of meaning but not necessarily implying imitation of a sound in nature
in flash, flame, flare, flicker, and flimmer, the symbolic fl- conveys the sense of light in motion
in bounce, pounce, and trounce, -ounce conveys the symbolic sense of rapid movement
— distinguished from onomatopoeic
6. : functioning as a culturally meaningful phenomenon in the life of a people
a dance ritual with symbolic rather than abstract, mimetic, or purely personal importance
II. noun
( -s )
1. : something that is symbolic — usually used with the
the symbolic may lose itself in unintelligibility — John Dewey
2.
[German symbolik, from symbol creed (from Late Latin symbolum ) + -ik -ics, from Greek -ikē, feminine of -ikos -ic]
: symbolics 1