<B>symbolism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the use of symbols; representation by symbols. <DD><B> 2. </B>a system of symbols; organized set or pattern of symbols. <BR> <I>Ex. The cross, the crown, the lamb, and the lily are parts of Christian symbolism. Symbolisms developed in the church to add impressiveness to the setting and liturgy (Matthew Luckiesh).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>symbolic meaning or character. <BR> <I>Ex. Symbolism, then, is a second and independent factor in dream-distortion, existing side by side with the censorship (Sigmund Freud).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(in literature or art) the principles or practice of a symbolist or the symbolists. <BR> <I>Ex. Their sculpture and architecture glow with color ... and full-dimensional symbolism (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="symbolist">
<B>symbolist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who uses symbols or symbolism. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of a school of French and Belgian poets (including Verlaine, Mallarme, and Maeterlinck) of the late 1800's, who sought to represent ideas and emotions by indirect suggestion, attaching a symbolic meaning as to particular objects and words, in a reaction against realism. <BR> <I>Ex. The symbols of the symbolist school are usually chosen arbitrarily by the poet to stand for special ideas of his own (Edmund Wilson).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a painter who aims at symbolizing ideas rather than representing the form or aspect of actual objects, especially one of a recent school of painters who use representations of objects and schemes of color to suggest ideas or states of mind. <DD><B> 4. </B>a person who has experience in the study or interpretation of symbols or symbolism. <DD><B> 5a. </B>a person who uses or advocates the use of symbolism in religious ceremonies. <DD><B> b. </B>a person who holds that the elements of the Eucharist are not transubstantiated but are mere symbols. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=symbolistic.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="symbolist">
<B>Symbolist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a symbolist poet or artist. <BR> <I>Ex. The outstanding characteristic of the Symbolist movement lay in the fact that it evoked, rather than described; reflected, rather than stated (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who holds that the elements of the Eucharist are symbols. </DL>
<A NAME="symbolistic">
<B>symbolistic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with symbolism or symbolists. adv. <B>symbolistically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="symbolization">
<B>symbolization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a representation by symbols; symbolizing. <BR> <I>Ex. The more intricate and variable is the situation we wish to describe the more dependent we become upon mathematical systems of symbolization (George Simpson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="symbolize">
<B>symbolize, </B>verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to be a symbol of; stand for; represent. <BR> <I>Ex. A dove symbolizes peace.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to represent by a symbol or symbols. <BR> <I>Ex. to symbolize a nation by its flag. The Indians and the settlers symbolized their friendship by smoking the peace pipe.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to make into or treat as a symbol; regard as symbolic or emblematic. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to use symbols. <BR> <I>Ex. Men symbolize, that is, bestow meanings upon physical phenomena, in almost every aspect of their daily lives (Beals and Hoijer).</I> noun <B>symbolizer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="symbological">
<B>symbological, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with symbology. </DL>
<A NAME="symbologist">
<B>symbologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is versed in symbology; symbolist. </DL>
<A NAME="symbology">
<B>symbology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the science or study of symbols. <DD><B> 2. </B>the use of symbols; symbolism. <BR> <I>Ex. one not unfamiliar with cartoon symbology (Carl Rose).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="symbololatry">
<B>symbololatry, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> worship of or excessive reverence for symbols. </DL>
<A NAME="symbolophobia">
<B>symbolophobia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an abnormal fear of having one's actions interpreted symbolically. </DL>
<A NAME="symmetallic">
<B>symmetallic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with symmetallism. </DL>
<A NAME="symmetallism">
<B>symmetallism</B> or <B>symmetalism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a proposed monetary system in which the standard metal is a combination of two or more precious metals in a fixed proportion, usually a gold-silver alloy. <BR> <I>Ex. The arrangement that there should be a joint demand for gold and silver money might, perhaps be called symmetallism, to distinguish it from the arrangement that there should be a composite supply which is called bimetallism (F. Y. Edgeworth).</I> </DL>
<B>symmetrical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having symmetry; regular in form; well-proportioned. <BR> <I>Ex. symmetrical figures ... Symmetrical as an endless row of lead soldiers (Newsweek).</I> (SYN) balanced. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Botany.) <DD><B> a. </B>(of a flower) having the same number of parts (sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels) in each whorl; isomerous. <DD><B> b. </B>(of a flower). divisible vertically into similar halves either by one plane only (bilaterally symmetrical or zygomorphic) or by two or more planes (radially symmetrical or actinomorphic). <DD><B> 3. </B>(Chemistry.) <DD><B> a. </B>having a structural formula characterized by symmetry. <DD><B> b. </B>denoting a derivative of benzene in which hydrogen atoms occupying positions one, three, and five have been replaced. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Logic, Mathematics.) (of propositions, equations, and the like) so constituted that the value or truth is not changed by interchanging the terms. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Medicine.) (of a disease) affecting corresponding organs or parts at the same time, as both arms or both lungs or both ears equally. <BR> <I>Ex. a symmetrical infection.</I> adv. <B>symmetrically.</B> noun <B>symmetricalness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="symmetrist">
<B>symmetrist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who studies or favors symmetry. </DL>
<A NAME="symmetrize">
<B>symmetrize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-trized,</B> <B>-trizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make symmetrical; reduce to symmetry. noun <B>symmetrization.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="symmetry">
<B>symmetry, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a regular, balanced form, or arrangement on opposite sides of a line or plane, or around a center or axis. <BR> <I>Ex. Its asymmetry was deliberate, for the Japanese believe that symmetry stunts the imagination (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>pleasing proportions between the parts of a whole; well-balanced arrangement of parts; harmony. <BR> <I>Ex. A swollen cheek spoiled the symmetry of his handsome face. In a scale passage ... you have symmetry of timing--whether the notes follow each other at even intervals or not (Time).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Botany.) agreement in number of parts among the cycles of organs that compose a flower. </DL>
