symbolize

English

Alternative forms

• symbolise (UK)

Etymology

From Middle French symboliser

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɪmbəlaɪz/, X-SAMPA: /"sImb@laIz/

Verb

symbolize (third-person singular simple present symbolizes, present participle symbolizing, simple past and past participle symbolized)

1. To be symbolic of; to represent.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, Internal Combustion^[1]:

     The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.

Derived terms

• nonsymbolizing

Translations

To be symbolic of; to represent

• Bulgarian: символизирам (bg) (simvolizíram)
• Catalan: simbolitzar (ca)
• Danish: symbolisere (da)
• Dutch: symboliseren (nl)
• Esperanto: simboli (eo)
• Finnish: symboloida, merkitä, olla + genitive + vertauskuva
• French: symboliser (fr)

• German: symbolisieren (de)
• Hungarian: szimbolizál (hu), jelképez (hu), jelez (hu)
• Portuguese: simbolizar (pt)
• Romanian: simboliza (ro)
• Spanish: simbolizar (es)
• Swedish: symbolisera (sv)