Standard Lemma guide

symbolic

adj · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒlɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: S IH0 M B AA1 L IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Pertaining to a symbol.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Implicitly representing or referring to another thing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a symbolic gesture

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

relating to or using or proceeding by means of symbols

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • symbolic logic
  • symbolic operations
  • symbolic thinking

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: symbolical

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

using symbolism

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • symbolic art

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

serving as a visible symbol for something abstract

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a crown is emblematic of royalty
  • the spinning wheel was as symbolic of colonical Massachusetts as the codfish

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: emblematic, emblematical, symbolical

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”), equivalent to symbol + -ic.

Across languages

Translations

67 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: խորհրդանշական (xorhrdanšakan) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Bengali: সাংকেতিক (śaṅketik) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Bengali: প্রতীকী (protiki) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Bulgarian: символичен (simvoličen) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Catalan: simbòlic — pertaining to a symbol
  • Czech: symbolický — pertaining to a symbol
  • Dutch: symbolisch — pertaining to a symbol
  • Esperanto: simbola — pertaining to a symbol
  • Estonian: sümboolne — pertaining to a symbol
  • Finnish: symbolinen — pertaining to a symbol
  • French: symbolique — pertaining to a symbol
  • Galician: simbólico — pertaining to a symbol
  • German: symbolisch — pertaining to a symbol
  • Hebrew: סמלי (simlí) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Hebrew: סמלית (simlít) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Hindi: सांकेतिक (sāṅketik) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Kazakh: таңбалық (tañbalyq) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Kazakh: символдық (simvoldyq) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Kazakh: символикалық (simvolikalyq) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Northern Kurdish: sembolîk — pertaining to a symbol
  • Northern Kurdish: remzî — pertaining to a symbol
  • Latvian: simbolisks — pertaining to a symbol
  • Macedonian: симболичен (simboličen) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Norwegian Bokmål: symbolsk — pertaining to a symbol
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: symbolsk — pertaining to a symbol
  • Polish: symboliczny — pertaining to a symbol
  • Portuguese: simbólico — pertaining to a symbol
  • Portuguese: simbólico — pertaining to a symbol
  • Romanian: simbolic — pertaining to a symbol
  • Russian: символи́ческий (simvolíčeskij) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Scottish Gaelic: samhlachail — pertaining to a symbol
  • Spanish: simbólico — pertaining to a symbol
  • Ukrainian: символі́чний (symvolíčnyj) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Yiddish: סימבאָליש (simbolish) — pertaining to a symbol
  • Albanian: simbolik — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Armenian: խորհրդանշական (xorhrdanšakan) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Asturian: simbólicu — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Bengali: সাংকেতিক (śaṅketik) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Bengali: প্রতীকী (protiki) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Bulgarian: символичен (simvoličen) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Catalan: simbòlic — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Estonian: tähistav — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Finnish: vertauskuvallinen — implicitly referring to another thing
  • French: symbolique — implicitly referring to another thing
  • German: symbolisch — implicitly referring to another thing
  • German: symbolträchtig — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hebrew: סמלי (simlí) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hebrew: סמלית (simlít) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hebrew: סימבולי (simbóli) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hebrew: סימבולית (simbólit) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hindi: सांकेतिक (sāṅketik) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hindi: प्रतीकात्मक (pratīkātmak) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hungarian: jelképes — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Hungarian: szimbolikus — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Latvian: simbolisks — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Lithuanian: simbòliškas — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Lithuanian: simbòlinis — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Malayalam: പ്രതീകാത്മക (pratīkātmaka) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Polish: symboliczny — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Portuguese: simbólico — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Romanian: simbolic — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Scottish Gaelic: samhlachail — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Serbo-Croatian: simbòličan — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Slovene: simbóličen — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Spanish: simbólico — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Ukrainian: символі́чний (symvolíčnyj) — implicitly referring to another thing
  • Yiddish: סימבאָליש (simbolish) — implicitly referring to another thing
Real reading context

symbolic in complete knowledge articles