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symbol

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A symbol is something that stands for or represents something else. (noun)

An example of symbol is a jack o' lantern representing Halloween.

See symbol in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

something that stands for, represents, or suggests another thing; esp., an object used to represent something abstract; emblem: the dove is a symbol of peace
a written or printed mark, letter, abbreviation, etc. standing for an object, quality, process, quantity, etc., as in music, mathematics, or chemistry
Psychoanalysis an act or object representing an unconscious desire that has been repressed

transitive verb symboled or symbolled, symboling or symbolling

symbolize

See symbol in American Heritage Dictionary 4

sym·bol

noun

Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. See Synonyms at sign.
A printed or written sign used to represent an operation, element, quantity, quality, or relation, as in mathematics or music.
Psychology An object or image that an individual unconsciously uses to represent repressed thoughts, feelings, or impulses: a phallic symbol.

transitive verb symboled sym·boled, symboling sym·bol·ing, sym·bols

To symbolize.

Origin: 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; see g^welə- in Indo-European roots.