Symbolism

How to spell symbolism

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce symbolism

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does symbolism mean?

1. nounThe practice of using symbols or objects to represent ideas, qualities, or hidden meanings.
2. nounA late nineteenth-century movement in poetry and the visual arts that favoured suggestion and symbolic imagery over direct description.

Symbolism in a sentence

• The report explained the symbolism of the colours chosen for the flag.

• The gallery devoted a room to French symbolism and its dreamlike imagery.

• Her essay analysed the symbolism of water throughout the novel.

• His lecture traced the influence of symbolism on modern poetry.

Where does symbolism come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The base word traces back to the Greek symbolon, which meant a token, mark, or sign, and was built from syn- meaning 'together' and ballein meaning 'to throw'; a symbolon was literally a thing thrown or put together, originally a halved object whose two pieces could be matched to prove identity. The notion of a recognisable sign passed into Latin as symbolum and then into Old French as symbole before reaching English. The abstract noun symbolism was formed later by adding the suffix -ism, which itself comes through Latin and French from the Greek ending -ismos used to name a system or practice. By the eighteenth century English used symbolism for the use of symbols generally, and in the late nineteenth century it became the name of a movement in poetry and painting. The spelling trap sits in the unstressed middle vowel, the schwa heard in 'sym-buh-lism', which tempts writers away from the correct o.

How the word is built

• symbol (sign, token)
• -ism (system, practice, or doctrine)