1. The practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.
2. The disguised representation in conscious thought of unconscious or repressed contents or events.
3. A set or system of symbols.
4. A symbolic meaning or character.
5. The principles and practice of symbolists in art or literature.
6. When capitlized, a movement of the late 19th century in French art and literature.
7. The use of any of certain special figures or marks of identification to signify a religious message or divine being, as the cross for Christ and the Christian faith.