Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, relating to, or having the character of an icon.
- adjective Symbolic, emblematic, or representative.
- adjective Having a conventional formulaic style. Used of certain memorial statues and busts.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to a portrait or likeness or to portraiture; of the nature of a portrait.
- Of, pertaining to, or resembling in any way an icon or sacred image, or the style of such image-paintings.
- In art, conventional: applied to such work as the statues of victorious athletes commonly dedicated to divinities in antiquity, or to memorial statues and portrait-busts executed after fixed models or types, as the busts of the sovereign set up in British courts of justice.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Relating to, or having the characteristics of, an
icon .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to or having the characteristics on an icon
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Brimming with both vagueness and import, the label "iconic" has been slapped on everything from fashion to corporate logos, public buildings to television characters.
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Brimming with both vagueness and import, the label "iconic" has been slapped on everything from fashion to corporate logos, public buildings to television characters.
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Although the term iconic is increasingly used to mean simply prominent or attention-getting buildings, architectural icons embody specific messages.
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The word iconic gets thrown around way too often, but in the case of the Jeep it qualifies.
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The word iconic gets thrown around way too often, but in the case of the Jeep it qualifies.
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I'm not taking away from what was achieved or the bravery displayed but the term iconic suggests somewhat modern images.
Army Rumour Service 2009
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What must be said, though, is that in an age when the word "iconic" has become a synonym for "vaguely familiar if you're particularly interested in that sort of thing", teenage Reece Topley's start to the County Championship season is already only a couple of wickets short of being "totally unforgettable".
Let's drink to the dobbers – cricket's decaf bowlers | Harry Pearson 2011
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Late last week, Noonan made a rather personal attack on Obama for what she described as his iconic bow to the emperor of Japan.
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Dressed in white, she wandered round the Acropolis "which surely defines the word 'iconic' ", revealed that this is "the largest ancient building created entirely from marble" and claimed that "from the White House to the Bank of England, its architecture had been slavishly copied".
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph John Preston 2011
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Few labels are so recklessly applied as the word "iconic".
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011
garyth123 commented on the word iconic
"SCOTLAND has won an international contest to host a cutting-edge operation which aims to transform the way companies run major projects around the world and is expected to create about 200 jobs at an iconic site near Glasgow."
Hi-tech inward investment on course to create 200 jobs
What is meant by an iconic site?
Jonathan Meades wrote recently about the overuse of this word: ICONIC: THE ADJECTIVE OF THE AGE
March 28, 2009
bilby commented on the word iconic
In Glasgow, I'd guess a site dipped in batter and deep-fried.
March 28, 2009
garyth123 commented on the word iconic
I'm thinking of how Sir Sean Connery would pronounce "iconic site" at least in the mouths of what I think are termed impressionists. (Mike Yarwood not Monet.)
March 28, 2009