ideogram
Americannoun
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Linguistics. a symbol that represents an idea or object directly rather than a particular word or speech sound, such as an arrow symbol to represent direction.
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a symbol that substitutes for a word or phrase, such as 7, =, or &; a logogram.
noun
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a sign or symbol, used in such writing systems as those of China or Japan, that directly represents a concept, idea, or thing rather than a word or set of words for it
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any graphic sign or symbol, such as %, @, &, etc
Etymology
Origin of ideogram
Vocabulary lists containing ideogram
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Canby had a radically different assessment of Mr. Berger’s work this time, calling him “a lightweight” who “can function no more than as an ideogram for decadence.”
From New York Times • May 21, 2023
A prizefighter’s journey is an existentialist ideogram for life, and the real fight, the real fifteen rounds, occurs in the heart, at home.”
From The New Yorker • May 15, 2017
She left her copy of the I Ching open to a hexagram that was interpreted to mean “time to move on”—most likely number 18, an ideogram of three maggots and an urn, which represents decay.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2016
Production illustrator Tom Southwell saw a Japanese ideogram he liked and placed it in the window of the noodle shop.
From Time • Jun. 25, 2012
The semicircle and egg at the end of Cleopatra are a conventional ideogram for “daughter of Isis.”
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
