symbolize

English

Alternative forms

• symbolise (UK)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French symboliser

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmbəlaɪz/

Verb

symbolize (third-person singular simple present symboliz, present participle ing, simple past and past participle symbolized)

1. (transitive) To be symbolic of; to represent.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in 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.

2. (intransitive) To use symbols; to represent ideas symbolically.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To resemble each other in qualities or properties; to correspond; to harmonize.
   • Francis Bacon

     The pleasing of colour symbolizeth with the pleasing of any single tone to the ear; but the pleasing of order doth symbolize with harmony.

   • Howell

     They both symbolize in this, that they love to look upon themselves through multiplying glasses.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To hold the same faith; to agree.
   • G. S. Faber

     The believers in pretended miracles have always previously symbolized with the performers of them.

Derived terms

• nonsymbolizing

Translations

To be symbolic of; to represent

• Bulgarian: символизи́рам (bg) (simvolizíram)
• Catalan: simbolitzar (ca)
• Danish: symbolisere
• Dutch: symboliseren (nl)
• Esperanto: simboli
• Finnish: symboloida (fi), merkitä (fi), olla + genitive + vertauskuva
• French: symboliser (fr)
• German: symbolisieren (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: szimbolizál (hu), jelképez (hu), jelez (hu)
• Italian: simbolizzare
• Polish: symbolizować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: simbolizar (pt)
• Romanian: simboliza (ro)
• Russian: символизи́ровать (ru) impf or pf (simvolizírovatʹ)
• Slovene: simbolizirati
• Spanish: simbolizar (es)
• Swedish: symbolisera (sv)