symbolic
[sim-bol-ik]
- serving as a symbol of something (often followed by of).
- of, relating to, or expressed by a symbol.
- characterized by or involving the use of symbols: a highly symbolic poem.
- (in semantics, especially formerly) pertaining to a class of words that express only relations.Compare notional(def 7).
- Computers. expressed in characters, usually nonnumeric, that require translation before they can be used (opposed to absolute).
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Sometimes sym·bol·i·cal (for defs 1–4).
Origin of symbolic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for symbolically
Contemporary Examples
Crystal visits the Catskills, symbolically, in the show, but his humor is far from the whiny Allen mentality.
Could she have been symbolically protecting Maisie from the “crowns” that the Tuttles placed on their victims?
Tibi had previously symbolically spilled water on Prawer Bill in Knesset.
It might be symbolically meaningful, but probably not financially.
Similarly, the symbolically significant date of November 29 adds a second curve ball.
Historical Examples
Symbolically speaking, that is what they would like to do with us.
Utopia of Usurers and other EssaysGilbert Keith Chesterton
All future symbols are symbolically explained by means of these three.
Mysticism and Logic and Other EssaysBertrand Russell
Guilt is allayed by symbolically and ritually passing it onto another.
After the RainSam Vaknin
Symbolically, the one gives nourishment; the other gives life.
The Blood CovenantH. Clay Trumbull
Ezekiel represents Babylon and Egypt, symbolically, as two eagles.
Needlework As ArtMarian Alford
symbolic
symbolical
- of or relating to a symbol or symbols
- serving as a symbol
- characterized by the use of symbols or symbolism
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for symbolically
symbolic
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper