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
- resymbolize verb
- symbolization noun
- unsymbolized adjective
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.
Lincoln poses almost nonchalantly, one hand touching a book to represent knowledge, the other clutching a scroll to symbolize statecraft.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 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
MacArthur Park has come to symbolize some of Los Angeles’ most intractable issues.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 2, 2025
"Lines on maps started to symbolize the limits of political sovereignties rather than the boundless divine promises. This transformed the way that the Bible's descriptions of geographical space were understood."
From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2025
Vieta in 1579 began to use algebraic variables—X, Y, Z, etc.—to symbolize unknown quantities.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
