symbolize
Americanverb
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(tr) to serve as or be a symbol of
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to represent by a symbol or symbols
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(intr) to use symbols
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(tr) to treat or regard as symbolic or figurative
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of symbolize
From the New Latin word symbolizāre, dating back to 1580–90. See symbol, -ize
Explanation
Use the verb symbolize when you use an image, shape, color, or other simple visual to stand for something else, like when you wear black to symbolize that you're mourning a loss. To symbolize is to make a symbol out of something. Symbolize traces back to the Greek word symbolon, which combines syn-, meaning "together," and bol, meaning "to throw." The earliest Christians were, so to speak, "thrown together" because of their beliefs, and so the Christian "marks" that represented their belief in one God became the first items to be described as symbols.
Vocabulary lists containing symbolize
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Vocabulary to Describe Literary Devices
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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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.
The city owes more than its name to the first commander in chief; George Washington encouraged the French developer Pierre Charles L’Enfant to design a capital that would symbolize the nation.
From Slate • May 18, 2026
Increasingly, speakers are being chosen or challenged not only for what they say, but for what they symbolize about institutions, technology, politics and generational authority.
From Salon • May 16, 2026
“So I was incorporating things like the half doorway to symbolize their struggle.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026
Wolfsthal is among experts involved in the "Doomsday Clock" meant to symbolize how near humanity is to destruction.
From Barron's • Feb. 1, 2026
It was only with hindsight that they came to symbolize a new era; and it was the Scientific Revolution itself which was chiefly responsible for the Enlightenment’s conviction that progress had become unstoppable.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
