The Collaborative International Dictionary
Symbolic \Sym*bol"ic\, Symbolical \Sym*bol"ic*al\, a. [L. symbolicus, Gr. symboliko`s: cf. F. symbolique.] Of or pertaining to a symbol or symbols; of the nature of a symbol; exhibiting or expressing by resemblance or signs; representative; as, the figure of an eye is symbolic of sight and knowledge. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ness, n.
The sacrament is a representation of Christ's death by
such symbolical actions as he himself appointed.
--Jer.
Taylor.
Symbolical delivery (Law), the delivery of property sold by
delivering something else as a symbol, token, or
representative of it.
--Bouvier. Chitty.
Symbolical philosophy, the philosophy expressed by hieroglyphics.
Wiktionary
a. 1 of, related to, or being a symbol; symbolic 2 of, related to, or being a emblem; emblematic
WordNet
adj. relating to or using or proceeding by means of symbols; "symbolic logic"; "symbolic operations"; "symbolic thinking" [syn: symbolic]
serving as a visible symbol for something abstract; "a crown is emblematic of royalty"; "the spinning wheel was as symbolic of colonical Massachusetts as the codfish" [syn: emblematic, emblematical, symbolic]
Usage examples of "symbolical".
Freemasonry, for all the other degrees which I took afterwards are only pleasing inventions, which, although symbolical, add nothing to the dignity of master.
Spirit of Spirits, leads back the vagrant spirit to its home, and accompanies it through the purifying processes, both real and symbolical, of its earthly transit.
Often now I thought of that symbolical marriage which takes place on the night of the Eleusinian festivities between the high priestess and the hierophant, and which is not a union or even a contact, but is a rite, and is sacred as such.
From these two, which are one,--from the excellence and perfection of the Divine Nature and Wisdom, considered as Success and Glory, as the opposites of Failure and Mortification, results what the Kabalah, styling it Yesod, Foundation or Basis, characterizes as the Generative member of the Symbolical human figure by which the ten Sephiroth are represented, and from this flows Malakoth, Empire, Dominion, or Rule.
Each character is symbolical, showing that selfish, trivial and debasing attributes must be overcome before spirits can progress.
Another lady then asked her if it was allowable to believe the history of the apple to be symbolical.
It is not difficult to understand, therefore, why primitive man paid divine honours to the organs of sex in man and woman, or to such things as he considered symbolical of them--that is to say, to understand the extensiveness of those religions which are grouped under the term "phallicism".