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Symbolism

//ˈsɪmbəˌlɪzəm// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Representation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities. countable, uncountable

    "The undeveloped or mysterically confused thought which exists in savages is fully exemplified in the childish or crazy atavistic anthropomorphism and symbolism so prevalent among degenerates."

  2. 2
    the practice of investing things with symbolic meaning wordnet
  3. 3
    An art movement originating in late 19th-century France and Belgium, seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realism. countable, uncountable

    "The cross-fertilization of Elizabethan drama with French symbolism gave rise to the "Princess Maleine", a new species if there ever was one, Shakespearean in form and incident, most un-Shakespearean in everything else."

  4. 4
    a system of symbols and symbolic representations wordnet
  5. 5
    A combining together of parts or ingredients. countable, obsolete, uncountable
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  1. 6
    an artistic movement in the late 19th century that tried to express abstract or mystical ideas through the symbolic use of images wordnet

Etymology

From symbol + -ism, sense 2 being a semantic loan from French symbolisme.

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