icon

Also i·kon,

[ahy-kon]

noun

1. Digital Technology.,  a picture or symbol that appears on a screen and is used to represent a file, account, application, etc..

   Tap the icon to download the app.

   Click the flag icon at the top of the web page to toggle the language to English.

2. Eastern Church.,  a representation of some sacred personage or event, such as Christ or a saint or the Resurrection, painted usually on a wood surface and venerated for its subject.

3. a person or thing that epitomizes for many people a value, an era, a community, etc.

   Blue jeans remain an American cultural icon, despite the outsourcing of their manufacture to other countries.

4. a person or thing that is revered or idolized.

   Elvis Presley is a cultural icon of the 20th century.

5. Semiotics.,  a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it.

6. any picture, image, or other representation.

icon

/ ˈaɪkɒn /

noun

1. Also: ikon. a representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint, esp one painted in oil on a wooden panel, depicted in a traditional Byzantine style and venerated in the Eastern Church

2. an image, picture, representation, etc

3. a person or thing regarded as a symbol of a belief, nation, community, or cultural movement

4. a person regarded as a sex symbol or as a symbol of the latest fashion trends

5. a pictorial representation of a facility available on a computer system, that enables the facility to be activated by means of a screen cursor rather than by a textual instruction

icon

1. In a graphical user interface, a picture on the screen that represents a specific file, directory, window, or program. Clicking on an icon will start the associated program or open the associated file, directory, or window.

icon

1. An image used in worship in the Eastern Orthodox Church and among other Christians (see also Christian) of similar traditions. Icons depict Jesus, Mary, and the saints, usually in a severe, symbolic, nonrealistic way.

Word History and Origins

Origin of icon¹

First recorded in 1565–75; from Latin īcon, from Greek eikṓn “figure, image, likeness”

Word History and Origins

Origin of icon¹

C16: from Latin, from Greek eikōn image, from eikenai to be like

Synonym Study

See image.

Example Sentences

She also asked to stop being referred to as an icon.

Read more on BBC

“I was paired against an absolute icon, got a nice chat, pictures, a signed sheet, and now a recap of my mistakes,” one of his opponents in Louisiana, Nahum Jose Vilamil, wrote on social media.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

And his daughter Anne, whose diary he had edited and published, had become an icon.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Chung cuts a different figure than his father and grandfather, who are both icons in the Korean business community.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

That is more than American industrial icon General Motors, which sold around $47 billion worth of cars over the same period.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• apotheosis 
• avatar 
• embodiment 
• epitome 
• incarnation 
• manifestation 
• personification 
• quintessence 
• representation 
• symbol