Symbol Definition

sĭmbəl

symboled, symboling, symbolled, symbolling, symbols

noun

symbols

Something that stands for, represents, or suggests another thing.

Webster's New World

An instance that typifies a broader pattern or situation.

His striking out to end the rally was a symbol of everything that had gone wrong with the team over the past month.

American Heritage

A written or printed mark, letter, abbreviation, etc. standing for an object, quality, process, quantity, etc., as in music, mathematics, or chemistry.

Webster's New World

An act or object representing an unconscious desire that has been repressed.

Webster's New World

(linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

verb

symboling, symbolled

Symbolize.

Webster's New World

To symbolize.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Symbol

Noun

Singular:

symbol

Plural:

symbols

Origin of Symbol

From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed"), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (sumbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign"), from συμβάλλω (sumballō, “I throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion"), from σύν (sun, “with, together") + βάλλω (ballō, “I throw, put")

From Wiktionary
Middle English symbole creed from Old French from Latin symbolum token, mark from Greek sumbolon token for identification (by comparison with a counterpart) sun- syn- ballein to throw gwelə- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition