Meanings
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 21Synonyms: emblematic
- Implicitly representing or referring to another thing.
a symbolic gesture
2 more examples
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 2023As a sign-off, they played the video for 1979 new wave classic, a symbolic choice at it was also the first video that MTV ever aired when it launched in the US in 1981.
2026 January 1, Max Pilley, “MTV shuts down final music-only channels with ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’”, in NME
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivePertaining to a symbol.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiverelating to or using or proceeding by means of symbols
adjectiveserving as a visible symbol for something abstract
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekσυμβολικός“of or belonging to a symbol”
- Latinsymbolicus
- Frenchsymbolique
- Englishsymbolic
From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”), equivalent to symbol + -ic.
More words from French, Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رَمْزِيّ, رَمْزِيّ
- رَمْزِيّ (ramziyy)pertaining to a symbol
- رَمْزِيّ (ramziyy)implicitly referring to another thing
Bengali সাংকেতিক, প্রতীকী
- সাংকেতিক (śaṅketik)pertaining to a symbol
- প্রতীকী (protiki)pertaining to a symbol
- সাংকেতিক (śaṅketik)implicitly referring to another thing
- প্রতীকী (protiki)implicitly referring to another thing
Bulgarian символичен, символичен
- символичен (simvoličen)pertaining to a symbol
- символичен (simvoličen)implicitly referring to another thing
Catalan simbòlic, simbòlic
- simbòlicpertaining to a symbol
- simbòlicimplicitly referring to another thing
Czech symbolický
- symbolickýpertaining to a symbol
Dutch symbolisch
- symbolischpertaining to a symbol
Esperanto simbola
- simbolapertaining to a symbol
Estonian sümboolne, tähistav
- sümboolnepertaining to a symbol
- tähistavimplicitly referring to another thing
Finnish symbolinen, vertauskuvallinen
- symbolinenpertaining to a symbol
- vertauskuvallinenimplicitly referring to another thing
French symbolique, symbolique
- symboliquepertaining to a symbol
- symboliqueimplicitly referring to another thing
German symbolisch, symbolisch
- symbolischpertaining to a symbol
- symbolischimplicitly referring to another thing
- symbolträchtigimplicitly referring to another thing
Hebrew סמלי, סמלית
- סמלי (simlí)pertaining to a symbol
- סמלית (simlít)pertaining to a symbol
- סמלי (simlí)implicitly referring to another thing
- סמלית (simlít)implicitly referring to another thing
- סימבולי (simbóli)implicitly referring to another thing
- סימבולית (simbólit)implicitly referring to another thing
Hindi सांकेतिक, सांकेतिक
- सांकेतिक (sāṅketik)pertaining to a symbol
- सांकेतिक (sāṅketik)implicitly referring to another thing
- प्रतीकात्मक (pratīkātmak)implicitly referring to another thing
Hungarian jelképes, szimbolikus
- jelképesimplicitly referring to another thing
- szimbolikusimplicitly referring to another thing
Latvian simbolisks, simbolisks
- simboliskspertaining to a symbol
- simbolisksimplicitly referring to another thing
Lithuanian simbòliškas, simbòlinis
- simbòliškasimplicitly referring to another thing
- simbòlinisimplicitly referring to another thing
Norwegian Bokmål symbolsk
- symbolskpertaining to a symbol
Persian نمادین, سمبولیک
- نمادین (nemâdin)pertaining to a symbol
- سمبولیک (sambolik)implicitly referring to another thing
- نمادین (nemâdin)implicitly referring to another thing
Polish symboliczny, symboliczny
- symbolicznypertaining to a symbol
- symbolicznyimplicitly referring to another thing
Portuguese simbólico, simbólico
- simbólicopertaining to a symbol
- simbólicopertaining to a symbol
- simbólicoimplicitly referring to another thing
Romanian simbolic, simbolic
- simbolicpertaining to a symbol
- simbolicimplicitly referring to another thing
Russian символи́ческий
- символи́ческий (simvolíčeskij)pertaining to a symbol
Scottish Gaelic samhlachail, samhlachail
- samhlachailpertaining to a symbol
- samhlachailimplicitly referring to another thing
Spanish simbólico, simbólico
- simbólicopertaining to a symbol
- simbólicoimplicitly referring to another thing
Ukrainian символі́чний, символі́чний
- символі́чний (symvolíčnyj)pertaining to a symbol
- символі́чний (symvolíčnyj)implicitly referring to another thing
Yiddish סימבאָליש, סימבאָליש
- סימבאָליש (simbolish)pertaining to a symbol
- סימבאָליש (simbolish)implicitly referring to another thing
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with symbolic
Cite this entry
symbolic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symbolic
“symbolic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symbolic. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “symbolic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symbolic.
Source: symbolic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.