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symbolist

 - 2 dictionary results

sym⋅bol⋅ist

  [sim-buh-list]
Use symbolist in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person who uses symbols or symbolism.
2. a person versed in the study or interpretation of symbols.
3. Literature.
a. a writer who seeks to express or evoke emotions, ideas, etc., by stressing the symbolic value of language, to which is ascribed a capacity for communicating otherwise inexpressible visions of reality.
b. (usually initial capital letter) a member of a group of chiefly French and Belgian poets of the latter part of the 19th century who sought to evoke aesthetic emotions by emphasizing the associative character of verbal, often private, images or by using synesthetic devices, as vowel sounds, presumably evocative of color.
4. Fine Arts.
a. an artist who seeks to symbolize or suggest ideas or emotions by the objects represented, the colors used, etc.
b. (usually initial capital letter) a member of a group of late 19th-century artists who rejected realism and sought to express subjective visions rather than objective reality through the use of evocative images.
5. (often initial capital letter) Ecclesiastical. a person who rejects the doctrine of transubstantiation and views the Eucharist symbolically.
6. a person who favors the use of symbols in religious services.
–adjective
7. of or pertaining to symbolists or symbolism.
Origin:
1575–85; symbol + -ist

Related forms:
sym⋅bol⋅is⋅tic, adjective
sym⋅bol⋅is⋅ti⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To symbolist
sym·bol·ist   (sĭm'bə-lĭst)   
n.  

  1. One who uses symbols or symbolism.

    1. One who interprets or represents conditions or truths by the use of symbols or symbolism.

    2. often Symbolist Any of a group of chiefly French writers and artists of the late 19th century who rejected realism and used symbols to evoke ideas and emotions.

adj.  

  1. Of or relating to symbolism.

  2. often Symbolist Of or relating to the Symbolists.

sym'bol·is'tic adj., sym'bol·is'ti·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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