variants
also symbolical
as in representational
having the function or meaning of an object or figure that stands for something else
the butterfly in the poem is symbolic of the impermanence of youth
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Recent Examples of symbolic
The Year of the Rat, traditionally symbolic of new beginnings, coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
—
Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
The holiday is celebrated with Seders, ritual meals including symbolic foods and readings from the Haggadah.
—Chris Sims, The Courier-Journal, 2 July 2025
Performance Trade-Offs: Real-time applications face inherent constraints due to the computational overhead of symbolic reasoning, knowledge graph traversal and the general reduction in inference speeds compared to pure neural approaches.
—Anuradha Weeraman, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
For the first time since the 1980s, the Islamic Republic faced a direct military assault from another regional power that targeted not only its military assets, but the symbolic and political heart of the regime itself.
—Sanam Vakil, Time, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for symbolic
Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
The holiday is celebrated with Seders, ritual meals including symbolic foods and readings from the Haggadah.
—Chris Sims, The Courier-Journal, 2 July 2025
Performance Trade-Offs: Real-time applications face inherent constraints due to the computational overhead of symbolic reasoning, knowledge graph traversal and the general reduction in inference speeds compared to pure neural approaches.
—Anuradha Weeraman, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
For the first time since the 1980s, the Islamic Republic faced a direct military assault from another regional power that targeted not only its military assets, but the symbolic and political heart of the regime itself.
—Sanam Vakil, Time, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for symbolic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for symbolic
representative
Adjective
-
In 1892 he was elected representative from the 8th Ward to the Austin City Council.—
Michael Barnes,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
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The committee's dysfunction led to a lack of support for the Republican candidate in a key state representative race, which the Democrat won by a narrow margin.—
Jolene Almendarez,
The Enquirer,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Symbolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/symbolic. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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