| 1. | serving as a symbol of something (often fol. by of). |
| 2. | of, pertaining to, or expressed by a symbol. |
| 3. | characterized by or involving the use of symbols: a highly symbolic poem. |
| 4. | (in semantics, esp. formerly) pertaining to a class of words that express only relations. Compare notional (def. 7). |
| 5. | Computers. expressed in characters, usually nonnumeric, that require translation before they can be used (opposed to absolute ). |