containing symbols, or being used as a symbol The dove is symbolic of peace. He shook his fist in a symbolic gesture of defiance. The election of Barack Obama had enormous symbolic significance for the idea of a post-racial society. The new regulations are largely symbolic (= they will not have any real effect).
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NAmE//sɪmˈbɑlɪkli//
adverb a symbolically significant gestureSee symbolic in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: symbolic