Dictionary

symbolism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɪmbəˌlɪzəm/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From symbol + -ism, sense 2 being a semantic loan from French symbolisme.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Representation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities.
   • The undeveloped or mysterically confused thought which exists in savages is fully exemplified in the childish or crazy atavistic anthropomorphism and symbolism so prevalent among degenerates. 1911 May, “Insanity and the Art of the Borderland”, in The International Studio, volume 32, number 171, page 32:
2. (countable, uncountable) An art movement originating in late 19th-century France and Belgium, seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realism.
   • The cross-fertilization of Elizabethan drama with French symbolism gave rise to the "Princess Maleine", a new species if there ever was one, Shakespearean in form and incident, most un-Shakespearean in everything else. 1916, Edwin E. Slosson, Major Prophets of To-Day, Boston:
   • The rise of French symbolism towards the end of the 'seventies was a symptom of a changed temper of thought and feeling traceable in some degree throughout civilized Europe. Roughly, it marked the passing of the confident and rather superficial security of the 'fifties into a vague unrest, a kind of troubled awe. 1920, C. H. Herford, “Recent tendencies in European poetry”, in Francis Sydney Marvin, editor, Recent Developments in European Thought:
3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A combining together of parts or ingredients.

Forms

Deriveds

antisymbolism · sound symbolism · ethnosymbolism · phonetic symbolism

Relateds

symbolic · symbolist · symbolize

Translations (42)

ko 상징주의 (representation of a concept) · nn symbolisme (representation of a concept) · ka სიმბოლიზმი (representation of a concept) · kk символизм (representation of a concept) · fa نمادگرایی (representation of a concept) · ta குறியீட்டியம் (representation of a concept) · el συμβολισμός (representation of a concept) · ca simbolisme (representation of a concept) · ast simbolismu (representation of a concept) · tr simgecilik (representation of a concept) · th ลัทธิสัญลักษณ์นิยม (representation of a concept) · ru символи́зм (representation of a concept) · pa ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹਵਾਦ (representation of a concept) · ja 象徴主義 (representation of a concept) · es simbolismo (representation of a concept) · uk символі́зм (representation of a concept) · la symbolismus (representation of a concept) · pl symbolizm (representation of a concept) · tr sembolizm (representation of a concept) · gl simbolismo (representation of a concept) · nl symbolisme (representation of a concept) · fi symbolismi (representation of a concept) · io simbolismo (representation of a concept) · be сімвалі́зм (representation of a concept) · pl symbolika (representation of a concept) · fr symbolisme (representation of a concept) · kk бейнешілік (representation of a concept) · fi symboliikka (representation of a concept) · ru симво́лика (representation of a concept) · lv simbolisms (representation of a concept) · nb symbolisme (representation of a concept) · pt simbolismo (representation of a concept) · vi thơ tượng trưng (representation of a concept) · ga siombalachas (representation of a concept) · ar رَمْزِيَّة (representation of a concept) · it simbolismo (representation of a concept) · cmn 象徵主義 /象征主义 (representation of a concept) · be сімво́ліка (representation of a concept) · de Symbolik (representation of a concept) · uk симво́ліка (representation of a concept) · sv symbolik (representation of a concept) · eo simboleco (representation of a concept)