symbol definition and examples

Definition:
A person, place, action, or thing that (by association, resemblance, or convention) represents something other than itself. Verb: symbolize. Adjective: symbolic.

See also:

•Logograph
•Semiotics
•Sign
•Symbolism
•"The Symbolism of Poetry," by W.B. Yeats."

Etymology:
From the Greek, "token for identification"


Examples and Observations:
•Bruce Wayne: People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy, and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man I'm flesh and blood. I can be ignored, I can be destroyed, but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.
Alfred Pennyworth: What symbol?
Bruce Wayne: Something elemental, something terrifying.
Alfred Pennyworth: I assume that as you're taking on the underworld, this symbol is a persona to protect those you care about from reprisals.
Bruce Wayne: You thinking about Rachel?
Alfred Pennyworth: Actually, sir, I was thinking of myself.
(Christian Bale and Michael Caine in Batman Begins, 2005)



•"The works of women are symbolical.
We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight,
Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir,
To put on when you're weary."
(Elizabeth Barret Browning, Aurora Leigh, 1857)



•Det. Nola Falacci: He was killed with a family photo-cube. Interesting metaphor.
Detective Mike Logan: Is that a metaphor or a symbol, Falacci? Guess I'd have to take a Master Class to find out.
(Alicia Witt and Chris Noth in "Seeds." Law & Order: Criminal Intent, 2007)



•"Although symbolism works by the power of suggestion, a symbol is not the same as a meaning or a moral. A symbol cannot be an abstraction. Rather, a symbol is the thing that points to the abstraction. In Poe's 'The Raven,' death isn't the symbol; the bird is. In Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, courage isn't the symbol; blood is. Symbols are usually objects, but actions can also work as symbols--thus the term 'symbolic gesture.'

"A symbol means more than itself, but first it means itself. Like a developing image in a photographer's tray, a symbol reveals itself slowly. It's been there all along, waiting to emerge from the story, the poem, the essay--and from the writer herself."
(Rebecca McClanahan, Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively. Writer's Digest Books, 2000)



•"A symbol is a repeatable concrete image, an object, which captures a second level of meaning from a particular experience."
(Philip Ellis Wheelwright, Metaphor and Reality. Indiana Univ. Press, 1962)



•"Language, written or spoken, is such a symbolism. The mere sound of a word, or its shape on paper, is indifferent. The word is a symbol, and its meaning is constituted by the ideas, images, and emotions, which it raises in the mind of the hearer."
(Alfred North Whitehead, Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect. Barbour-Page Lectures, 1927)



•John Reid: You forget I told you I had vowed never to shoot to kill. Silver bullets will serve as sort of a symbol. Tonto suggested the idea.
Jim Blaine: A symbol of what?
John Reid: A symbol which means justice by law. I want to become known to all who see the silver bullets that I live and fight to see the eventual defeat and proper punishment by law of every criminal in the West.
Jim Blaine: By criminy, I think you got something there!
(Clayton Moore and Ralph Littlefield in "The Lone Ranger Fights On." The Lone Ranger, 1949)



•"We live in a world of signs and symbols. Street signs, logos, labels, pictures and words in books, newspapers, magazines and now on our mobiles and computer screens; all these graphic shapes have been designed. They are so commonplace we seldom think of them as a single entity, 'graphic design.' Yet taken as a whole they are central to our modern way of life."
(Patrick Cramsie, The Story of Graphic Design. British Library, 2010)



•"Hey, Lois, look. The two symbols of the Republican party: an elephant and a big fat white guy who's threatened by change."
(Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy, 1999)



•"The swastika now shows up so often as a generic symbol of hatred that the Anti-Defamation League, in its annual tally of hate crimes against Jews, will no longer automatically count its appearance as an act of anti-Semitism.

"'The swastika has morphed into a universal symbol of hate,' said Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization. 'Today it’s used as an epithet against African-Americans, Hispanics and gays, as well as Jews, because it is a symbol which frightens.'

"Observing the trend, he said that his group had decided it would examine reports of scrawled swastikas for contextual clues. If it appears Jews were not the target, the incident will not be included in the league’s annual audit of anti-Semitic hate crimes."
(Laurie Goodstein, "Swastika Is Deemed ‘Universal’ Hate Symbol." The New York Times, July 28, 2010)

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