Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To serve as a symbol of.
- intransitive verb To represent or identify by a symbol.
- intransitive verb To use symbols.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To represent by symbols.
- To regard, treat, or introduce as symbolic; make emblematic of something.
- To make to agree in properties.
- To express or represent in symbols or symbolically.
- To agree; conform; harmonize; be or become alike in qualities or properties, in doctrine, or the like.
- Also spelled
symbolise .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make to agree in properties or qualities.
- transitive verb To make representative of something; to regard or treat as symbolic.
- transitive verb To represent by a symbol or symbols.
- intransitive verb To have a resemblance of qualities or properties; to correspond; to harmonize.
- intransitive verb rare To hold the same faith; to agree.
- intransitive verb To use symbols; to represent ideas symbolically.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To be
symbolic of; torepresent .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb express indirectly by an image, form, or model; be a symbol
- verb represent or identify by using a symbol; use symbols
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Neither glamorous enough to be New York nor glitzy enough to be Los Angeles, what San Antonio has come to symbolize is a basketball team that has never needed a marquee or spotlight to prosper.
USATODAY.com - Spurs defeat Pistons 81-74 to win third NBA title since 1999 2005
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If it does, I fear greatly for the future of my country, for the new Republican party that Bush appears to symbolize is a toxic combination of plutocracy, intolerance, and foreign misadventure.
Balkinization 2004
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"Eggs symbolize fertility, and the Chinese word for shrimp sounds like the word for laughter and smile, which is great for a relationship," said Ming Tsai.
The Seattle Times 2010
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"Eggs symbolize fertility, and the Chinese word for shrimp sounds like the word for laughter and smile, which is great for a relationship," said Ming Tsai.
The Seattle Times 2010
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"Eggs symbolize fertility, and the Chinese word for shrimp sounds like the word for laughter and smile, which is great for a relationship," said Ming Tsai.
The Seattle Times 2010
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"Eggs symbolize fertility, and the Chinese word for shrimp sounds like the word for laughter and smile, which is great for a relationship," said Ming Tsai.
The Seattle Times 2010
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These days, gold-wrapped chocolate coins symbolize wealth.
HAPPY YEAR OF THE RAT! Bryanna Clark Grogan 2008
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These days, gold-wrapped chocolate coins symbolize wealth.
Archive 2008-02-01 Bryanna Clark Grogan 2008
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At a deeper level, however, the books are very different, and their titles symbolize the difference.
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European terms "colony," "dependence" and "empire," and the theory which these terms symbolize, have been true to the American System.
"Colony,"--or "Free State"? "Dependence,"--or "Just Connection"? "Empire,"--or "Union"? Alpheus Henry Snow 1889
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