Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To be symbolic of; to represent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb represent or identify by using a symbol; use symbols
  • verb express indirectly by an image, form, or model; be a symbol

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French symboliser

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Examples

  • There has been much critical interest in the logical consistency of Orwell’s writing, especially concerning the ending of Keep the Aspidistra Flying, and it could be argued that Nineteen Eighty-Four presents similar inconsistencies in that the complete destruction of Winston, and the absolute submission of the individual to the power of the Party this destruction can be taken to symbolise, is at odds with the literal reading of the Appendix xliii.

    Hope Begins in the Dark: Re-reading Nineteen Eighty-Four 2005

  • I think there is a reference to the dangers of Global Warming and the yellow bits in the foreground are possibly gold nuggets - though what they symbolise it beyond my powers of cognition.

    Steve Bell on Hosni Mubarak 2011

  • Though the elderly Victoria came to symbolise a dowdy puritanism, the early years of her reign were marked by scandal and assassination attempts.

    Royal equality act will end succession of first born male - rather than older sister 2011

  • Ultimately, Xue's case came to symbolise China's arbitrary use of vague state secrets laws to protect powerful business interests, specifically the government's biggest oil companies.

    US geologist loses appeal in China 2011

  • During the Victorian era, Christian traditions also became associated with the pudding's preparation, including the use of 13 ingredients to symbolise Christ and the 12 apostles and the stirring of the mixture from east to west in remembrance of the journey of the Magi.

    Move over Heston Blumenthal, I know how to make the perfect Christmas pud 2011

  • In contrast with the orrery by which we might symbolise the structural integrity so crucial to Rationalism in its aesthetic of the logical, the thunderbolt signifies the dynamism of the ruptures at the heart of all strange fiction (in which I include not just the fantastic but the tragic and the comic.)

    On the Sublime Hal Duncan 2010

  • Two things in particular symbolise for him what's changed.

    Tower Hamlets: Neil King, Peter Golds and the Conservative mayoral case Dave Hill 2010

  • He is standing in what has come to symbolise all that is success in a post-Carrie Bradshaw universe – the walk-in wardrobe.

    The Hard Sell: Zalando 2011

  • Most cross-cultural: Over 100 cyclists from Jordan, Israel and Palestine taking part in a three-day bicycle relay to carry water from the Yarmouk River and the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea to symbolise the need for cooperation to stop climate change and save precious water resources.

    Activists across the globe prepare for day of action Juliette Jowit 2010

  • Does the flag also symbolise if you Chief Constable is/was/maybe a serial shagger. on May 16, 2009 at 7: 45 pm Bob

    The First Of The Gang To Die. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

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