Symbolism Meaning
/ˈsɪmbəˌlɪzəm/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounRepresentation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities.
nounAn 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.
Sentence Examples
This novel is rich in symbolism.
The symbolism behind this Cistercian chapel's sculptural motifs is still not completely understood.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The novel's ____ was obvious, as the empty house represented isolation.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The author used a lot of ____ in the novel to represent the deeper themes of growth and change in human life today.
Word Origin & History
From symbol + -ism, sense 2 being a semantic loan from French symbolisme.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1911 May, “Insanity and the Art of the Borderland”, in The International Studio, volume 32, number 171, page 32:
"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."
— 1916, Edwin E. Slosson, Major Prophets of To-Day, Boston:
"The rise of French symbolism towards the end of the 'seventies was a symptom of a changed temper of thought and feeling traceable in some degree throughout civilized Europe. Roughly, it marked the passing of the confident and rather superficial security of the 'fifties into a vague unrest, a kind of troubled awe."
— 1920, C. H. Herford, “Recent tendencies in European poetry”, in Francis Sydney Marvin, editor, Recent Developments in European Thought:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The novel's ____ was obvious, as the empty house represented isolation.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The author used a lot of ____ in the novel to represent the deeper themes of growth and change in human life today.